TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan has announced it will lift restrictions on transnational same-sex marriages, meaning that Taiwan will recognize marriage between partners from any two countries, excluding China.

The Ministry of the Interior (MoI) made the decision last Thursday (Jan. 9) in a letter from the Department of Household Registration (戶政司), stating that two people of the same gender may not be denied the right to “establish a permanent union with intimacy and exclusiveness for the purpose of living together.”

Until now, only marriages where both members of the partnership were from countries with legal same-sex marriage were recognized by the Taiwanese government.

The change comes after numerous challenges to the law, including a 2021 case in which a Taiwanese citizen and his Macau partner were able to register their marriage following a successful court battle.

DPP legislator Fan Yun (范雲) said that the move was another big step forward for Taiwan to demonstrate the values of human rights and gender equality. “I am very happy that the Taiwan government has fulfilled everyone's dream of starting a family at the time of the Lunar New Year,” she said in a statement on her Facebook page.

Though the changes allow for recognition of same-sex marriages between Taiwanese and those from Hong Kong or Macau, the Taiwanese government will still not recognize same-sex partnerships between Taiwanese and Chinese couples. According to article 52 of the “Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area,” marriages shall be subject to the regulations of the location in which the marriage is conducted, meaning the changes will not apply in this instance.

Taiwanese non-profit LGBTQIA+ activist group TAPCPR expressed excitement, but also regret that the changes will not include those from China, saying “we will continue to work together with our partners on both sides of the strait until the day we can get married.”

Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage in May 2019.