The Ministry of Education should have a standing policy and administrative measures to combat the increasingly severe cultural and literary “united front” tactics employed by China, a national security source said.
The pro-China Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage is commissioning the Taipei-based Sheen Chuen-chi Cultural and Educational Foundation to host a “Zhonghua History and Culture Workshop” in July, the source said, citing Mainland Affairs Council sources.
High-school teachers in the subjects of Mandarin and history would be invited to give talks at the workshop in China’s Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, with Beijing providing room, board and transportation, the council said.
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
While the commission is legal, it is nonetheless a move to influence high-school teachers with “united front” tactics, the source said.
The ministry should tell teachers that attending such events is not advised, as China has ulterior motives for covering their expenses, the source said.
These efforts are on the rise as restrictions for Chinese individuals coming to Taiwan grow stricter, while Taiwanese citizens going to China are relatively unhindered, due to freedom of movement as guaranteed by Taiwan’s democratic form of government, the source said.
The ministry should consider subsidizing academic-based travels or interaction to countries other than China, the source added.
The ministry should also adopt measures such as requiring all teachers to log a report to the ministry if they are going to China or disallowing teachers from taking a day off citing official business if they have accepted Chinese offers to pay for expenses, they said.
Taiwanese citizens must be aware that China will do everything in its power to attempt to subvert the nation’s sovereignty, particularly after the Chinese Communist Party issued Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) “five points” in January this year, the source said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lee Chun-hsien (李俊憲) on Saturday criticized the workshop as a cover for “united front” tactics as the administration is headed by Chinese National Cultural Heritage Administration Director Liu Yuzhu (劉玉珠).
The Sheen Chun-chi Cultural and Educational Foundation said the workshop aims to promote cross-strait interaction and the history of the “Zhonghua” people.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
A global survey showed that 60 percent of Taiwanese had attained higher education, second only to Canada, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan easily surpassed the global average of 43 percent and ranked ahead of major economies, including Japan, South Korea and the US, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2024 showed. Taiwan has a high literacy rate, data released by the ministry showed. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had 20.617 million people aged 15 or older, accounting for 88.5 percent of the total population, with a literacy rate of 99.4 percent, the data
RSS