The US government this week issued its annual report on the diplomatic niceties of dealing with Taiwan — and stumbled right into a protocol blunder, as the US Department of Homeland Security was caught referring to Taiwan on its Web site as a “province of China.”
Bob Yang (楊英育), president of the Washington-based Formosan Association for Public Affairs, wrote to US Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano complaining: “It is of course incontestable reality that Taiwan is NOT a province of China.
“Taiwan is a sovereign independent country with its own elected president,” his message read.
“I hereby respectfully request that the Bureau [sic] of Homeland Security adopt the US national policies and correct this factual error in all computers and strike all ‘Province of China’ references in the system when referring to Taiwan,” he said.
An embarrassed department official replied: “Thank you for alerting us to an erroneous characterization of Taiwan on a Department of Homeland Security Web site.”
He said the department had “immediately initiated action” to correct its mistake.
By coincidence, the error was made just as the US State Department issued its yearly guidelines on contacts with Taiwan.
The four-page memorandum detailing exactly how all US government officials should act when they become involved with Taiwan, states clearly that the US government refers to Taiwan simply as “Taiwan.”
It adds: “The US Government does not refer to Taiwan as the Republic of China, the Republic of China on Taiwan or a country.”
Just how or why the Department of Homeland Security made the mistake in the first place remains a mystery.
Among the State Department rules confirmed this week:
Meetings between US government officials and Taiwanese authorities outside the US must be held outside government offices, in private rooms or restaurants.
US embassy personnel can attend private parties given by Taiwanese representatives in their homes, but not in their offices.
Representatives of Taiwan may not be invited to US functions held in official US offices, but it is permissible to invite them to parties held in private homes or cafes.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS