A group of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators and pro-Taiwan advocates yesterday took the Ministry of Education (MOE) to court over its controversial changes to high-school textbook guidelines, filing a lawsuit against Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧) for document forgery at the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office.
Lawyer Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said that Chiang on Jan. 27 convened a ministry meeting to review the proposed changes, at which it was concluded that a panel composed of high-school teachers and experts who had discussed the proposal earlier agreed with the “minor adjustments” to high-school textbook guidelines in the fields of language and social studies, which cover three disciplines: history, geography and civics.
However, Huang said that according to various media reports, the 43-member panel actually decided against endorsing the proposed alterations during the meeting.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“That means that Chiang has violated Article 213 of the Criminal Code, which states that a public official who causes injury to the public with the entry of a public document which he knows to be false can be imprisoned from one to seven years,” the lawyer said.
DPP legislators Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純) urged investigators to seize the audio recording and minutes of the Jan. 27 meeting, which Chiang has refused to turn over.
Many teachers, historians and members of the pan-green camp and the public have voiced strong opposition to the adjusted textbook outlines over what they say is its hidden agenda of “de-Taiwanization and Sinicization” aimed at catering to “Greater China perspective” of the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
The DPP caucus is planning to submit a proposal seeking to nullify the adjustments at the start of the legislative session today, Cheng said, adding that the public should keep pressuring the ministry until it suspends the initiative.
Ho said that the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee would also demand that the minister step down and be held responsible for the proposal.
The DPP also filed a complaint with the Control Yuan last week over what it termed the Ministry of Education’s “administrative errors.”
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
MIXED SOURCING: While Taiwan is expanding domestic production, it also sources munitions overseas, as some, like M855 rounds, are cheaper than locally made ones Taiwan and the US plan to jointly produce 155mm artillery shells, as the munition is in high demand due to the Ukraine-Russia war and should be useful in Taiwan’s self-defense, Armaments Bureau Director-General Lieutenant General Lin Wen-hsiang (林文祥) told lawmakers in Taipei yesterday. Lin was responding to questions about Taiwan’s partnership with allies in producing munitions at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. Given the intense demand for 155mm artillery shells in Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion, and in light of Taiwan’s own defensive needs, Taipei and Washington plan to jointly produce 155mm shells, said Lin,
RSS