Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators yesterday accused President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of trying to “de-Taiwanize” high school textbooks to “brainwash” students.
A textbook review committee is making final reviews of various textbook editions for the next school year that starts in September to make sure they follow a curriculum approved in 2009.
While the job is usually more or less routine, the Ministry of Education made some changes at the end of last month and early this month, such as asking the review committee to consider suggestions by an anonymous member of the public to adjust the Taiwan-oriented perspective in history books to make it more China-oriented, and switching some terms.
In addition, the ministry appointed National Taiwan University’s political science professor Chang Yia-chung (張亞中) — who is known for his strong pro-unification tendencies — as a new committee member.
“What the government is trying to do to high school history textbooks is really worrisome and confusing,” DPP Legislator Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told a press conference at the legislature. “It seems the ministry is trying to implant political ideas into history lessons by not only changing the perspective, but also dropping neutral terms.”
For instance, the current textbook divides Taiwan’s history into periods of “under Qing rule” or “under Japanese rule.” However, following the proposal, the ministry asked committee members to change the term “under Japanese rule” to “under Japanese colonial rule” to “hold on to the nationalistic view,” a ministry document delivered to committee members said.
The document also said that the People’s Republic of China should no longer be mentioned in textbooks as “China,” but rather should be referred to as the “Chinese Communist Party regime” or “mainland China.”
Following the “proposal by the public” referred by the ministry, members made the recommendation that current terms used in history textbooks, such as “Qing-French War” (清法戰爭) and “Qing-Japanese War” (清日戰爭), be changed to “Sino-French War” (中法戰爭) and “Sino-Japanese War” (中日戰爭).
It also says that when mentioning former president Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) definition of cross-strait relations as a “special state-to-state relationship” and former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) definition that “there is one country on each side of Taiwan Strait,” Ma’s “one China with each having its own interpretation” definition should also be mentioned.
“It is very suspicious that the ministry is still asking the review committee to consider making changes at this time, since, normally, the final review of textbooks to be used in a semester that starts in September would have been done by May at the latest,” DPP Legislator Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) said. “It’s equally suspicious that Chang — a political science professor with no background in history — was suddenly appointed as committee member.”
Cheng said textbook review committee members are usually appointed at the beginning of theyear and serve through the end of the year.
Citing an article Chang published in the magazine China Reivew (中國評論) in April, Cheng said Chang was seeking to create a “Chinese-oriented [historical] perspective” so that Taiwanese would adopt a Chinese identity.
Chang also mentioned that one pro-unification committee member, Wang Hsiao-po (王曉波), “has joined the team with a mission assigned by President Ma.”
“Apparently, this is part of a ‘de-Taiwanization’ campaign launched by Ma himself,” Cheng said.
Tsai asked the government to stop politically manipulating textbooks.
“Please stop implanting your political ideology into history textbooks. We need it to be settled immediately, so that students will have textbooks to use in the coming semester,” he said.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
RSS