Minister of Education Wu Ching-ji (吳清基) said yesterday that the government will map out regulations to punish schools that remove national flags and other national symbols when receiving Chinese visitors.
It’s a good thing to have cross-strait exchange activities, but they should be carried out on the basis of equality and dignity of the nation and without downgrading the country’s sovereignty, Wu said.
“Under no circumstances should school authorities remove national flags, [the Republic of China’s (ROC) founding father] Sun Yat-sen’s (孫逸仙) portrait, or pictures of the country’s heads of state,” he said.
PHOTO: FANG CHI-HSIEN, TAIPEI TIMES
Wu made the remarks when asked by press for comments on recent incidents that took place at National Formosa University, I-Shou University, Taipei Kai-Ping Culinary School and Long-Sing Junior High School in which the schools were alleged by students to have removed ROC national flags due to the presence of Chinese visitors.
Wu yesterday said that any schools that remove symbols representing the nation could be put on probation of one to three years prohibiting them from holding exchange activities with China.
Private schools found violating the regulations would receive demerits that would result in cuts in government subsidies, said Wu, adding that public schools found violating the regulations would be issued warnings with the incident included in the performance review of the school principals.
“When it comes to the situation that Chinese visitors have opinions about [ROC] national flags, school authorities should tell them that they should respect existing provisions in line with international protocols. Schools should put national interests ahead of cross-strait exchanges although such activities are also important,” Wu said.
In response to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) criticism that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had set a bad example by prohibiting people from bringing national flags with them to a female international soccer match in 2001 when he was Taipei mayor, Wu said Ma had been unfairly criticized, arguing that Ma had not wanted to interfere with the decisions of the Chinese Taipei Football Association which was the host of the game.
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