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Taipei councilor
concerned about ‘globe crisis’
SOVEREIGNTY: DPP City Councilor Chou Wei-you
said eight out of 11 chain stores he checked nationwide sell globes that do not
identify Taiwan as an independent country
By Tu Chu-min and Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Democratic Progressive Party
Taipei City Councilor Chou Wei-you points to Taiwan on a globe on Monday in
Taipei.
Photo: Tu Chu-min, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei
City Councilor Chou Wei-you (周威佑) on Monday accused President Ma Ying-jeou’s
(馬英九) administration of inaction on the common depiction of Taiwan as part of
China’s territory on globes, saying that the depiction risked degrading the
nation’s sovereignty and misleading people.
Chou said he noticed the increasingly common error after inspecting globes sold
at 11 chain stores around the nation, including hypermarket chains A.mart, RT-Mart,
Carrefour Taiwan and Costco, as well as Kingstone and Eslite bookstores.
“As many as eight of the 11 chain stores sell globes bearing the mistake. While
some of them correctly label the nation as ‘Taiwan,’ the majority fail to
display the name using the font and color used to indicate an independent
country. They do not mark ‘Taipei’ as the nation’s capital or show China and
Taiwan in different colors,” Chou said.
Chou said nations such as Japan and South Korea were colored differently from
other nearby countries, with their national titles displayed in color and
boldface and their capitals marked with a symbol.
“Only a South Korean-made globe from Costco and another one from Kingstone
Bookstore clearly identify ‘Taipei’ as our capital, while the former labels the
nation as ‘Taiwan’ and the latter as ‘Republic of China’ [ROC]” Chou said.
Chou said that if the central government chose to not act while such products
were being used as a teaching aids in schools, at least the Taipei City
Government should bar them from schools in the city.
Chen Yi-tsung (諶亦聰), head of the primary education division of the city’s
Department of Education, said globes were not needed as much anymore because
most schools in the city were equipped with interactive whiteboards.
There are no laws governing how globe manufacturers design their products, Chen
added.
“Students are taught about cross-strait issues when they are in the upper grades
of elementary schools and in junior-high schools. The education department will
instruct teachers to bear in mind the nation’s sovereignty and political
situations to avoid confusion and misunderstandings,” Chen said.
Chou said what mattered was the government’s attitude in handling the
politically sensitive issue.
“The government should demand manufacturers and distributors of globes to only
allow products that accurately represent reality, yet it is turning a blind eye
and taking a hands-off attitude toward the matter,” Chou said.
Taipei Min-Quan Junior High School principal Chen Chun-mei (陳春梅) said she
respected each teacher’s methods, including whether they wanted to use a globe.
“Different people have different political ideologies and values. Teachers
should avoid instilling their political beliefs into young students to give them
a chance to grow up without bias,” she said.
However, Mu Cha Elementary School principal Yang Ching-cheng (楊進成) said teachers
should design their courses in accordance with the school curriculum and should
only use teaching aids that reflect reality.
“They [teachers] should have the ability to determine whether the teaching
materials they use conform to reality, and to revise the parts that do not
before using them in the classroom,” Yang said.
Questions about the markings on globes sold in the country were raised by Taipei
businessman Chang Chin-te (張金德) in July, who posted a message on his Facebook
page complaining that the table globes for sale at an RT-Mart store in Taipei
showed Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China.
Chang urged consumers to boycott such globes.
He said students would have questions about national identity when they cannot
find either Taiwan or the Republic of China on a global map.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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