Taiwan school in China is model for future

With the opening of the first official school for the children of Taiwanese businessmen in China's Guangdong Province in September, the Taiwanese government is now preparing to make the school a model for similar projects in the future.

Officials said the criteria under which the registration of the Dongguan Taiwan Businessmen's Children School (東莞台商子弟學校) was approved is expected to become a standard for future applications to set up schools for children of Taiwanese businessmen in other parts of China.

The Mainland Affairs Council and Ministry of Education are planning to send a delegation to inspect the school's facilities and administrative operations in November or December as the basis of setting up a standard, officials said. After Dongguan, Taiwanese businessmen in Shanghai and Suzhou reportedly also have plans to set up schools there for Taiwanese children.

There are an estimated 45,000 Taiwan businesses in China with over 200,000 Taiwanese employees. Shanghai is the city with the largest concentration of Taiwanese businesses.

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

Yeh Hung-teng (葉宏燈), former chairman of the Taiwan Businessmen Association in Dongguan (東莞市台商投資企業協會), began planning the Dongguan school in 1995 in light of the high demand from Taiwanese businessmen.

After years of negotiations, 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 textbooks 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 is to any recognition of Taiwan's sovereignty.

Compromises, however, were also made to gain China's approval to set up the school.

The school will neither raise the Republic of China flag nor sing its national anthem.

Also, wording that might "impair the development of cross-strait relations" was removed from textbooks.

The Taiwanese government, meanwhile, approved the school's registration as a "special case."

Though the Ministry of Education currently oversees the establishment of Taipei Schools -- overseas schools for Taiwanese expatriates -- the Taiwanese businessmen in China are not officially considered expatriates. These international schools offer courses identical with those in Taiwan schools and receive government funding.