Minister of Education Huang Jong-tsun (黃榮村) yesterday stated his view on the contentious Mandarin-romanization issue for the first time. In general, he said, he favored the opinion of proponents of the Tongyong (通用拼音) system.
Huang said that the technical aspects of the decision would be easy, since 85 percent of the Tongyong and Hanyu (
Leaving the door open to reversing himself, however, he said that if the public did not agree with the future decisions of the Ministry of Education, then the ministry wouldn't want to "play any more."
He said that it is unfair that the decision is the education ministry's alone, given that the opinions on this issue still differ greatly between various groups in society, and that the issue would have to be discussed one more time.
During interpellation in the legislature, lawmakers Diane Lee (李慶安) and Lee Ming-hsien (李明憲) pointed out that the issue has dragged on for a very long time without a decision. They also said that it had gone so far that the previous minister of education, Ovid Tzeng (曾製朗), had been forced to leave his position due to his support for the Hanyu system.
They went on to say that with compulsory native language education about to be implemented in the school system, the government should not delay a final decision further.
To this, Huang replied that the original issue had become blurred due to the huge number of memoranda being sent back and forth between the ministry and the Cabinet. He said he would therefore settle the issue by setting internationalization, language expertise and ethnic-suitability standards, according to which an evaluation of the issue would be carried out.
He also said that he wanted an expert language section of the National Science Council to handle the evaluation, which he said would take two months. Once completed, he said the results would be made public "in the blink of an eye."
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
RSS