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.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft