Emphasizing the importance of maintaining the nation’s cultural and linguistic diversity, Taiwan Statebuilding Party (TSP) officials yesterday said that the government’s plan to turn Taiwan into a fully bilingual Mandarin and English nation must not be made at the expense of other bentu (本土, “local”) languages.
To achieve the aims of the government’s “2030 Bilingual Nation Plan,” the government must give equal weight to promoting foreign and local languages to counter Chinese imperialism, TSP executive Chang Po-yang (張博洋) told a news conference in Taipei.
“The government has launched the 2030 Bilingual National Plan, but Taiwan must not discard its cultural diversity and multilingual heritage, or our own languages might get obliterated in favor of Mandarin and English only,” he said.
“For Taiwanese to assert their own separate and distinct identity from Chinese, and transform into an independent and sovereign nation, we have to link up with the world, but must also get to know our own people and roots better,” he added. “Taiwan already has an excellent DNA and immunity system, which is a whole set of bentu languages, including Taiwanese [also known as Hoklo], Hakka and Formosan languages, the mother tongues of Austronesian-related Aboriginal peoples.”
Mandarin became the dominant language in Taiwan because of the policies imposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) dictatorship during four decades of martial law, as the regime tried to eradicate all of Taiwan’s local languages, TSP officials said.
As Mandarin is the dominant language in government and society, people can become highly susceptible to China’s “united front” propaganda through TikTok and other Chinese media platforms, as well as Chinese videos and television shows, that work to erode Taiwan’s multiculture, they said.
It is thus vital that young people learn and speak bentu languages to preserve their mother tongues, and to resist China, they said.
TSP Tainan branch executive Liu Heng-wei (劉恆溦) called for establishing user-friendly bentu language learning environments for children, saying that the main obstacles today are a lack of learning facilities and teaching materials, and discrimination in society against people speaking Taiwanese, Hakka or an Aboriginal language.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
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