The Taipei City Government yesterday insisted that it had the final say over textbooks used in its schools, and threatened to ask pan-blue legislators to freeze the Ministry of Education's budget if it fought the city government on the issue.
The ministry said last week that it had invited academics from a civil group called the Taiwan History Association to review the content of school textbooks and consider the possibility of revising about 5,000 "improper" terms. "Cross-strait relations" could be changed to "nation-to-nation relations" and Sun Yat-sen's (孫中山) title as the Republic of China's (ROC) founding father could be removed.
Arguing that local governments have the authority to select and even edit textbooks, Wu Ching-chi (吳清基), director of the Taipei City Government's Department of Education, said yesterday that he and the directors of education departments in Taipei County and Keelung County would refuse to accept the revisions approved by the ministry.
PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES
"Political ideology was behind the ministry's move, and Taipei City won't be able to accept that," Wu said at Taipei City Hall.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member, agreed with Wu's remarks during a municipal meeting yesterday morning, and granted Wu full authority to handle the textbook issue.
The KMT last week invited education and history specialists to edit history textbooks from both Taiwanese and global perspectives for use in 18 cities and counties administered by the party.
Wu urged the ministry to respect the authority of local governments concerning school curriculums. He also said if the ministry refused to approve the version it presented, the city government would seek support from pan-blue legislators to freeze the ministry's textbook evaluation budget.
The city government has locked horns with the ministry over the textbook issue since Hau promised to standardize textbooks in the city to "reduce the burden" on middle school students.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
The cosponsors of a new US sanctions package targeting Russia on Thursday briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation and said the legislation would also have a deterrent effect on China and curb its ambitions regarding Taiwan. The bill backed by US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal calls for a 500 percent tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations such as China and India, which account for about 70 percent of Russia’s energy trade, the bankroll of much of its war effort. Graham and Blumenthal told The Associated Press
INTEL: China’s ships are mapping strategic ocean floors, including near Guam, which could aid undersea cable targeting and have military applications, a report said China’s oceanographic survey and research ships are collecting data in the Indo-Pacific region — possibly to aid submarine navigation, detect or map undersea cables, and lay naval mines — activities that could have military applications in a conflict with Taiwan or the US, a New York Times report said. The article, titled “China Surveys Seabeds Where Naval Rivals May One Day Clash,” was written by Chris Buckley and published on Thursday. Starboard Maritime Intelligence data revealed that Chinese research ships last year repeatedly scanned the ocean floor east of Taiwan’s maritime border, and about 400km east and west of Guam; “waters that
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