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VAC belittled itself
for China: DPP lawmakers
¡¥LOCAL TABOOS¡¦: Two recreational farms removed
references to government agencies from promotional material when they visited a
travel fair in China last year
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Democratic Progressive Party
Legislator Tsai Chih-chang speaks to reporters in Taipei yesterday while
pointing to a printout of a promotional flyer produced by the Veterans Affairs
Commission for last year¡¦s China International Travel Mart.
Photo: Liu Hsin-der, Taipei Times
Lawmakers yesterday accused the Veterans
Affairs Commission (VAC) of belittling itself with its recommendation that
recreational farms remove the names of government agencies from their titles and
in their promotional material to avoid ¡§offending¡¨ Chinese tourists and the
government in Beijing.
The commission said in its January report on the nation¡¦s participation at the
Chinese International Travel Mart in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, in October
last year that the wording on promotional material should not violate ¡§local
taboos,¡¨ Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers Tsai Chih-chang (½²¨ä©÷) and
Chiu Chih-wei (ªô§Ó°¶) told a press conference yesterday.
The lawmakers said commission officials asked representatives of Wuling Farm and
Cingjing Farm to remove the wording ¡§Executive Yuan¡¨ from their promotional
material, citing political concerns and Beijing¡¦s displeasure.
The two recreational farms in central Taiwan are affiliated to the commisssion,
which is under the Executive Yuan, and are among the most popular destinations
for domestic and overseas tourists.
¡§The commission has always prided itself in its loyalty to the country, but now
we¡¦re seeing this self-belittling practice to cater to Beijing. It is
ridiculous,¡¨ Tsai said.
The 100-member Taiwanese delegation was led by officials from the commission and
the Tourism Bureau, Chiu said.
Chiu demanded that the government hold officials in the bureau and the
commission accountable.
The commission¡¦s demand was first disclosed by an unidentified Internet user on
his or her Facebook page, which led the lawmakers to track down the report that
had previously gone unnoticed.
Commenting on the matter, the commission said that according to Taiwan Visitors
Association regulations stipulated in its exhibitors¡¦ invitation program, the
content of any publication, brochure and souvenir prepared by participant
organizations must conform with ¡§cross-strait conventions¡¨ and should undergo
prior examinations by the association.
Such regulations exist to prevent unqualified material from impeding the customs
clearance processes of the rest of the promotional items, the commission said,
adding that staff at Cingjing Farm had removed references to the Executive Yuan
on their own initiative after becoming aware of the rules.
However, an official at the commission said that removing words referring to
official Taiwanese agencies from promotional material ¡§lacked political
sensitivity.¡¨
¡§However, since the farm only took part in the exhibition to draw Chinese
tourists to Taiwan, rather than engaging in any cross-strait dialogue with China
or participating in any sort of political event, its conduct should not be
defined as ¡¥belittling,¡¦¡¨ a commission official said.
Taiwan Visitors Association Secretary-General Yeh Pi-hua (¸ºÑµØ) said that as the
association had not received any funding from the government and that the
removal of references to the Executive Yuan was not belittling.
With translation by Stacy Hsu, staff writer
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