Students occupying the Ministry of Education forecourt to protest the ministry’s controversial curriculum adjustments might withdraw as Typhoon Soudelor approaches, National Taichung First Senior High School Apple Tree Commune Club spokesperson Chen Chien-hsun (陳建勳) said yesterday.
“We will put safety before realizing our demands,” Chen said. “We do not want more people to be hurt as a result of participating in the movement.”
“We will have many more opportunities to continue to push our demands, whether by returning to the Ministry of Education or going elsewhere, so there is no need to gamble everything on this moment,” he said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Students have occupied the site since Friday last week, demanding the withdrawal or suspension of controversial changes to high-school social studies curriculum guidelines that critics said have a “China-centric” focus.
Chen emerged as one of the most prominent student leaders following the withdrawal yesterday of Northern Taiwan Anti-Curriculum Changes Alliance convener Chu Chen (朱震) from the students’ “policymaking” group.
His comments marked a retreat from earlier remarks by student spokesman Yi Juo-yu (伊若宇), who had stated that students were leaning toward continuing the occupation of the forecourt, although they were to take down tents and remove supplies.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
He had stated that 10 of a core group of between 20 and 30 student volunteers had expressed willingness to remain in shifts.
Student spokespeople also expressed dissatisfaction with a Legislative Yuan resolution calling for the ministry to establish a “curriculum review committee” to look over controversial guideline adjustments.
Students had originally called for the Legislative Yuan to hold an extraordinary session to directly overturn the guidelines.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“The progress we have gained is not proportional to the sacrifices we have made, so we do not see any reason to withdraw,” Yi said.
Taichung First Senior High School student Liao Chung-lun (廖崇倫) said it was difficult to agree to the resolution because it was not a “substantial promise,” with no clear plan for implementation.
He emphasized that “suspension” of the guidelines remained the students’ demand, with the curriculum review committee only a “necessary means.”
Liao added that students were open to talks with ministry officials on participation in the “curriculum review committee,” urging the ministry to allow students to participate as full voting members.
Separately yesterday, Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) said that the ministry had formally dropped charges against all of the students who were arrested last week for trespassing on ministry property.
Deputy Minister of Education Lin Teng-chiao (林騰蛟) said that charges would also be dropped against the adults who accompanied students, including three reporters who were arrested.
Lin added that the ministry was open to student representatives participating in the curriculum review committee, saying that besides reviewing the approval process for the guideline adjustments, the committee would also have the power to make amendments.
At about 8:15pm last night, a competing rally was held outside the ministry by the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP), with powerful loudspeakers broadcasting slogans that accused students of promoting Japanese “imperial citizen education” and “forgetting their ancestors.”
Former Bamboo Union leader and party head Chang An-le (張安樂), also known as the “White Wolf,” said the rally was meant to support the ministry in “setting things straight,” using the curriculum guideline adjustments to reverse a long series of previous changes aimed at promoting Taiwanese independence.
Twin police cordons and barbed wire barriers along Zhongshan S Road’s middle lane separated the rally from the students gathered in the ministry’s forecourt.
Zhongzheng First Precinct Police Chief Chang Chi-wen (張奇文) repeatedly shouted through a loudspeaker that the gathering was illegal because the CUPP had not applied for a permit.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from