Minister of Culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) recently expressed hope that Taiwan and China can make joint World Heritage site status applications to UNESCO and that this could be placed on the cross-strait talks agenda. As Taiwan is currently not a UN member state, it cannot apply to UNESCO independently.
In 2009, the Losheng (Happy Life) Sanatorium was listed by the Bureau of Cultural Heritage, part of the Ministry of Culture (MOC) — then known as the Council of Cultural Affairs (CCA) — as one of its Potential World Heritage Sites in Taiwan.
Yukio Nishimura was formerly vice president of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the UNESCO consultative body that evaluates World Cultural Heritage nominations.
The MOC’s Web page for this list explains that Nishimura — during a meeting of the International Workshop and Symposium Regarding Hansen’s Disease/Leprosy held by several NGOs, including the Taiwan Leprosy Patients’ Self-help Organization (樂生保留自救會) that same year — mentioned the sanatorium’s potential for nomination.
He said that it meets many of the nomination criteria as listed in the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, and in particular the sixth item, the only criterion related to human rights. Thus, the possibility was there for the nation to make an international application, supported by an international organization.
Hansen’s disease is one of the major human rights issues of the 20th century, and yet this nomination would be rejected outright because of a question of national status. Taiwan’s international participation has long been suffocated by China.
The MOC knows that the Losheng Sanatorium, steeped as it is with cultural and human rights significance, is Taiwan’s chance to make a cross-border joint application for World Heritage status. Three years on, not only has the ministry done little about it, but it has also proposed that Taiwan and China apply for heritage status together.
In giving up this opportunity to promote international connections in favor of catering to China, to which country is Lung actually loyal to?
While the application for World Heritage status may well be linked to international recognition, the designation of historic sites is possible as long as the government is willing.
In December 2005, the CCA listed Losheng as a temporary historic site, the first example of a site being accorded such status in Taiwan. However, because of plans to build a maintenance depot for the Sinjhuang MRT line, this designation was never finalized. The then-Taipei County Government Cultural Affairs Bureau (CAB) even went against Article 30 of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保存法), which embodies the idea that cultural preservation should be given priority over construction and development projects.
In the end, the CAB refused to accord Losheng legal status as a historic site, as it should have, and merely registered it as part of a “cultural landscape” (文化景) and a “historical building” (歷史建築).
The MRT already runs to Hueilong (迴龍), so it is no longer possible to use the excuse of pressure to get the line operational to reject Losheng’s designation as a historic site.
If the MOC is of a mind to preserve our cultural heritage, it should not look to China for help, and thus debase the nation’s status.
It should deal with the issue internally — by designating Losheng as a historic site — and externally — by linking up with Hansen’s disease sanatoria around the world, to make an international application to UNESCO. This would also get Taiwan more international recognition.
Tsai Ya-ying is a lawyer affiliated with the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association.
Translated by Paul Cooper
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under