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PFP, Lien have their say about textbook changes

"The textbook disputes are a result of administrative willfulness. The ministry is trying to avoid monitoring from the legislature."

Wang Jin-pyng, legislative speaker

The People First Party's (PFP) legislative caucus yesterday demanded the resignation of Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝).

Tu announced earlier this week that the ministry planned to modify high-school history books to indicate that the Republic of China (ROC) is not the legal government of Taiwan.

The PFP accused Tu of "rewriting Taiwan's history incorrectly."

Meanwhile, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) criticized the ministry as attempting to circumvent the Legislative Yuan's monitoring of the new textbooks.

"The textbook disputes are a result of administrative willfulness. The ministry is trying to avoid monitoring from the legislature, and this shows that the ministry doesn't not respect the public," Wang said.

Wang said that after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) became the governing party, "four Yuans (branches of government) are gone," and the Legislative Yuan is the only place left to monitor the governing party.

He then urged the public to allow the pan-blues to dominate the Legislative Yuan after the elections next month so that they can keep acting as a check to government power.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) was also vocal in his opposition to the ministry's proposed changes yesterday.

Emphasizing that shifts in political control should not lead to shifts in the historical record, Lien said that the DPP administration's actions were "forgetful of [the nation's] ancestral tradition" and would "ruin the country and bring sorrow to its people."

While stumping for pan-blue candidates in Taipei County yesterday, Lien reiterated to reporters the pan-blue alliance's stance on Taiwan's history. In the Cairo Declaration of 1943, the three leaders, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) all agreed that Taiwan should be returned to China. The Potsdam Declaration of 1945 called for the realization of the Cairo Declaration, and in its Instrument of Surrender, Japan emphasized its acceptance of the content of the Cairo Declaration in its entirety, Lien said.

It is very clear in the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the Sino-Japan Peace Treaty, Lien said, that the Japanese government surrendered sovereignty over Taiwan.

Furthermore, the Sino-Japan Peace Treaty, said that that all agreements signed with China and Japan were no longer effective as of the treaty's signing, including the agreement about Taiwan. In the text of the Sino-Japan Treaty, said Lien, it is clear that the "Republic of China" includes all claimed properties, which naturally includes Taiwan.
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