A group of language professors expressed concern yesterday that a new language database shared by Taiwan and China is part of an effort by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to push for unification with China and called for more attention to other languages spoken in Taiwan.
Ma on Wednesday applauded the launch of the online Chinese Language Knowledge Database (中華語文知識庫), a database of the way Mandarin is used differently in Taiwan and China.
Ma said at the launch ceremony that the database would help the two sides understand each other and promote cultural exchanges, adding that there were no political intentions.
However, members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors expressed concern that following the launch of the database, the government would move to create an environment where both sides of the Taiwan Strait would adopt the same writing system, which they believe would sabotage Taiwan’s local culture.
“We don’t object to a platform that introduces the different language usages in Taiwan and China,” Chang Yen-hsien (張炎憲), president of the association, told a press conference in Taipei.
“But we’re concerned about the implications behind such a move,” he added.
Saying that traditional Chinese characters are beautiful, while the simplified versions are “fragmentary,” National Changhua University of Education professor Chou Yi-chun (周益忠) said the country should not accept simplified characters or terms and phrases commonly used in China just because it wishes to expand economic exchanges across the strait.
“I am concerned that the erosion of Taiwan’s language and cultural independence would one day eventually lead to the erosion of Taiwan’s political independence,” said Andrew Chang (張德麟), an associate professor in Taiwanese languages at Chung Shan Medical University.
According to Chang Yen-hsien, Ma has said he values local culture, yet his government and the legislature, in which the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) controls or influences a majority of the seats, has never worked to promote a language equality act.
“Instead, Ma promoted further language and cultural exchanges with China, suggesting that the intention behind Ma’s language and cultural integration policy was to move Taiwan toward unification with China,” Chang Yen-hsien said.
The government should increase its efforts to promote and safeguard the many languages used in Taiwan, such as Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese), spoken by Taiwan’s largest ethnic group, the Han, as well as Hakka and several languages spoken by different Aboriginal tribes, Chang Yen-hsien said.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
The US House of Representatives yesterday unanimously passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, which aims to disincentivize Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by cutting Chinese leaders and their family members off from the US financial system if Beijing acts against Taiwan. The bipartisan bill, which would also publish the assets of top Chinese leaders, was cosponsored by Republican US Representative French Hill, Democratic US Representative Brad Sherman and seven others. If the US president determines that a threat against Taiwan exists, the bill would require the US Department of the Treasury to report to Congress on funds held by certain members of the
RSS