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School for children of Taiwanese businessmen in China raring to go

The first official school for the children of Taiwanese businessmen in China has gained approval to open from Chinese authorities. All that's left for it to open as scheduled in September is for the Taiwan government to give its support, the Legislative Yuan heard yesterday.

"What we need is a policy from the Taiwan government. We still don't know what status we have as of today," said the chairman of the Dongguan Taiwan Businessmen's Children School (ªF2¥x°Ó?l§Ì¾Ç®Õ), Yeh Hung-teng (¸-§»¿O) at a public hearing in the legislature.

There are an estimated 45,000 Taiwan businesses in China with over 200,000 Taiwanese employees. In Dongguan alone, there are more than 3,800 businesses, with 40,000 Taiwanese employees.

However, fearing that their children might be "brainwashed" by China's ideological education, most Taiwanese businessmen and their employees have been hesitant to send their children to a Chinese school, and many would rather leave them in Taiwan -- obviously, a far from ideal situation.

Yeh, a former chairman of the Taiwan Businessmen Association in Dongguan (ªF2¥«¥x°Ó§ë¸ê¥ø·~¨ó·|), began planning the school in 1995. The Guangdong Provincial Government officially approved the school's establishment in October 1999, agreeing that the school could appoint a Taiwanese principal, hire Taiwanese teachers and adopt teaching materials from Taiwan.

This format, which gives the school a status close to that of an international school, is a breakthrough on the side of China, sensitive as it has always been to any recognition of Taiwan's sovereignty.

But Taiwanese authorities have not been quite as reciprocal due to the nature of cross-strait relations.

"We face a very serious problem -- there is no law under which we can register with Taiwanese authorities and get the assistance we need," Yeh said.

Though the Ministry of Education now oversees the establishment of Taipei Schools -- overseas schools for Taiwanese expatriates -- the Taiwanese businessmen in China are not officially considered expatriates.

And until the status of the school is determined, the recruitment of teachers will be difficult, Yeh said, adding that the curriculum design and selection of teaching materials also need guidance from authorities concerned to make the school's education compatible with that offered in Taiwan.

In response, Chao Chieh-fu (»¯3Ç?Ò), director of the Mainland Affairs Council's department of cultural and educational affairs, said that the council has in fact coordinated with the Ministry of Education over the issue and reached agreement on several points.

Before a law is drafted, however, Chao said the council will handle the school's registration as a special case.

Taipei Schools have been set up in six Southeast Asian cities, where there is a large concentration of Taiwanese investment: Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia, Jakarta and Surabaya in Indonesia, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City. Under the supervision of the Ministry of Education, these schools offer courses identical with those in Taiwan schools and receive government funding.
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