The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) yesterday urged the public to be aware of China’s increasing censorship of publications after Beijing seized shipments of Taiwanese textbooks for contradicting the “one China” principle.
The Chinese General Administration of Customs recently wrote on Sina Weibo that its Fuzhou branch had confiscated three books shipped from Taiwan due to “problematic maps” showing Taiwan as a country and not recognizing Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea.
The books “contravened the ‘one China’ principle and severely endangered national unification, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” it said.
Photo: Taipei Times
A video published by the agency suggested the confiscated material were Taiwanese history and geography textbooks designed for junior-high school students.
The SEF said that Beijing continues to use cultural and educational exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to further its efforts to impugn Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Taiwanese should understand that the Chinese government is not a democracy and has nothing in common with Taiwan’s free society, it said, adding that people who work, travel or do business in China should exercise caution.
Chinese customs has cranked up censorship regarding printed materials revolving around China’s territorial claims, it said.
Customs officers in Nanning, China, seized maps that did not label islands in the South China Sea as Chinese territories and textbooks of Hong Kong students traveling in China were destroyed, the SEF said.
Textbooks mailed or carried by Taiwanese and Hong Kongers have been increasingly been confiscated or destroyed by Chinese customs officials, the SEF said.
Taiwan operates schools in China’s Shanghai, Guangdong and Jiangsu, which rely on textbook shipments from Taiwan that have been affected by Chinese censorship, it said.
The schools have arranged for Taiwanese students to receive remedial lessons in Taiwan during the summer and winter vacations, as censorship has made many subjects impossible to teach, it said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) called Beijing’s book seizures an overreaction, saying that Chinese authorities were “making a big deal out of nothing.”
Taiwanese schools in China have annually sent textbooks by mail for use without harassment until now, he said, adding that Beijing might have confiscated the books for significant changes in content or some ulterior motive.
Asked if the textbook seizures were part of China’s “united front” efforts, Lai said there was no need to dwell on the subject, as Taiwanese schools in China are subject to Chinese laws.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
RSS