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Schools mustn’t remove flag: Wu
By Shih Hsiu-chuan
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Jun 19, 2010, Page 3
Students from I-Shou University hold up the
national flag as they take part in their graduation ceremony in Kaohsiung County
last Saturday.
PHOTO: FANG CHI-HSIEN, TAIPEI TIMES
Minister of Education Wu Ching-chi (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.
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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