A number of pro-localization groups yesterday rallied in front of the Ministry of Education in Taipei to protest against the government’s adoption of the Hanyu pinyin romanization system for translations of station names along the MRT line between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei Main Station, calling on the Democratic Progressive Party government to reinstitute its former policy of pushing for nationwide implementation of Tongyong pinyin.
The protesters called on the ministry, the governing body for the nation’s languages, to abandon the Hanyu system adopted by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and reinstate the Tongyong system, which was promulgated in 2002 as the nation’s standard Mandarin romanization system.
Although the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) identifies Taiwan as a province of China, the organization uses the Tongyong system when referring to places in Taiwan, Taiwan Mandarin Romanization Alliance convener Yu Bor-chuan (余伯泉) said.
Photo: Sean Lin, Taipei Times
“For example, the ISO 3166 standard does not spell Kaohsiung as ‘Gaoxiong,’ just as it retained the spelling for Hong Kong, rather than ‘Xianggang,’ after the territory was handed over to China in 1997,” Yu said.
In addition, the ISO 7098 standard states that Hanyu pinyin is “the official language of the People’s Republic of China,” of which Taiwan is not a part, so the version of Mandarin used by Taiwanese does not fall within that scope, Yu said, adding that Ma led the nation down a path of “suicide” when he submitted to China and made Hanyu pinyin the national standard.
The administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) could have readopted Tongyong pinyin as the nation’s official romanization system after it took office, but it has instead treated the issue with indifference; essentially restricting itself to a framework set by Ma, he said.
As Taiwan’s culture and people have diverse origins, Taiwanese have formed a language that is uniquely Taiwanese, Taiwan Frontier convener Hong Hsien-cheng (洪顯政) said.
“The Mandarin used in Taiwan sounds different from that used in China and should have an independent system, just as British English is different from American English,” he said.
The nation’s use of Hanyu pinyin should not be made a political issue, ministry National Language Education Promotion Office head Wu Chung-yi (吳中益) said.
“The romanization used on road signs and at transportation stations is intended for foreigners... Every foreigner learning Mandarin learns Hanyu pinyin, because it is the international standard,” Wu said. “The decision has nothing to do with the nation’s self-determination or any ideologies, because the key point is to ensure that foreigners can read signs.”
“It is impossible to reason with the groups, as they are bent on politicizing the matter,” he added.
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