Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and a group of historians yesterday urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for the second time in as many months to stop interfering with high-school history textbooks and trying to inculcate kids with his own ideology.
“Ma’s comments at the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Central Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday were proof that he is behind the ‘de-Taiwanization’ of high-school textbooks,” Cheng told a press conference.
Former KMT legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) quoted Ma as saying at the meeting that content related to “Nipponization” and “Taiwanese independence” should be removed from high-school history books.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Ma also reportedly said existing history textbooks were not written “in accordance with the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution.”
The Ma administration’s attempt to change a curriculum that was approved in 2009 first drew fire when the Ministry of Education asked the textbook review committee in May to consider suggestions made by an “anonymous citizen” that history books should be made more China-oriented and some of the terms changed.
In addition, the ministry appointed National Taiwan University political science professor Chang Yia-chung (張亞中) — who is known for his strong pro-unification stance — as a new committee member.
Cheng and the group of historians accused Ma of trying to “brainwash” students in a press conference on June 11.
A petition against the falsification of history launched by Chen Chun-kai (陳君愷), a history professor at Fu Jen Catholic University, and Liu Chin-hsing (劉進興), a retired professor, quickly collected more than 5,000 signatures and was submitted to Education Minister Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) last Tuesday.
However, Ma ignored it and gave his “instructions,” among them the amalgamation of Taiwanese and Chinese history as “national history,” at the KMT meeting a day later, Cheng said.
“People have the freedom to form their own perspective of history. It is ridiculous that discriminatory terms such as ‘Nipponization’ and ‘enslavement education’ are still in use today and the government is still seeking to control how people think,” the lawmaker said.
Former Academia Historica director Chang Yen-hsien (張炎憲) said Ma’s historical perspective remained in the “party-state era” and was dismissive of Taiwanese values and the long fight for sovereignty and democracy.
Ma has completely ignored the fact that the ROC Constitution had been amended six times since 1991, he said, and that it is now very different than the original version.
“If Ma insists on the implementation of the original Constitution, I think he should launch a war to recover the Chinese mainland [sic],” Chang added.
Taiwanese history never existed in high-school textbooks before the administrations of former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), which explains the correlation between history education and the democratization process in Taiwan, Chang said.
“Only an authoritarian regime would think that it has the exclusive right to interpret and write history. If Ma insists on instilling his ideology in Taiwanese students, it is inevitable that Taiwan will eventually become part of China,” he added.
Chen Chun-kai said Ma’s interference had violated the president’s pledge at his inauguration speech in 2008, in which he stated that education should be free from interference of ideology.
There is no historical equivalent to political correctness, Chen said, adding that historians value facts over everything else.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or