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‘Sensitive terms’ and sensitive
celebrations
By Hsu Chien-jung 許建榮
Saturday, Apr 03, 2010, Page 8
In China, “democracy,” “democratic parties,” “June 4” and even “6.4” are labeled
“sensitive terms.” A massive Internet review system automatically replaces such
terms with the words “sensitive term,” making it sometimes impossible to post
certain phrases. For example, it would likely be impossible to say, “China’s
economy has grown by 6.4 percent.”
When Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) chatted with Internet users during an
interview on the Chinese government’s official Web site and the Xinhua news
agency’s Web site on Feb. 27, he said: “Only in a democracy is political order
guaranteed even if there is a leadership change.”
On some Web sites, this was changed to “only in a sensitive term is political
order guaranteed even if there is a leadership change.”
I had always thought that this was a strictly Chinese phenomenon, but to my
surprise, sensitive terms also exist in free and democratic Taiwan.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his administration consider the words “nation’s
founding” in the phrase “the 100th anniversary of the nation’s founding” (建國一百年)
one such sensitive term, and it was therefore changed to “100 years of
excellence” (精彩一百年) in connection to the centennial celebration of the founding
of the Republic of China (ROC).
In fact, in its dealings with China, the administration has begun to check its
own language to define a set of sensitive terms and topics, such as “president,”
“Tibet” and “Taiwan is an independent and sovereign state.”
There are also other examples. The head of China’s Association for Relations
Across the Taiwan Strait addressed Ma as “Mr Ma,” while the government has gone
even further by not issuing entry visas to people who are not welcome in China,
such as the Dalai Lama and World Uyghur Congress president Rebiya Kadeer.
In the past, Ma often talked about the June 4 movement and freedom and human
rights in Tibet, but that stopped after he became president; instead, he has
praised China’s human rights record.
It seems these issues have also been labeled “sensitive terms” as the government
synchronizes its stance with that of China’s. If this continues, maybe
“democracy” will be next on the list of sensitive terms. And when the list gets
too long, maybe they’ll just replace such words with the phrase “sensitive
term.”
If statements by the Taiwanese government were only filtered out on Web sites in
China, there would be no problem.
However, if the government begins to censor itself, then the freedom, democracy
and human rights the Taiwanese have fought so hard and so long for will have
been all but destroyed.
Taiwan is a democratic example to all Chinese around the world. Regardless of
complaints about Taiwan’s political chaos, Taiwan, is undeniably a democracy.
The more Taiwan insists on its independence, the deeper the understanding of the
value of democracy among Chinese around the world.
Lately, China has increased pressure on Hong Kong, its showcase for the “one
country, two systems” model. Taiwan’s persistence will strengthen the efforts of
Hong Kong’s democracy activists.
Chances are that China will also celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1911
Xinhai Revolution that toppled the Qing Dynasty, but the ROC government must
emphatically not sacrifice the nation’s sovereignty just because it wants
China’s economy to save Taiwan.
The 100th anniversary of the nation’s founding must not be allowed to become the
“100th anniversary of the sensitive term.”
Hsu Chien-jung is a doctoral candidate at Monash University in
Australia.
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