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Moderator: The 62nd session of the UN General Assembly ended in mid-September, and the so-called proposal of "Taiwan Province’s joining the UN" was rejected. However, the Taiwan Province authorities’ action of "joining the UN" did not stop, and they kept making strange moves. The Taiwan Province authorities stipulated that tens of thousands of private letters on the island should be stamped with the propaganda seal of "Taiwan Province’s entry into the United Nations" from October 5th, which caused some people to protest, believing that this action violated civil liberties. In addition, the examination questions of middle school students in Taiwan Province have also been used by the education authorities to make a big fuss. The examination questions about the content of "joining the league" have caused headaches for students and embarrassed teachers. So, how many tricks did the Taiwan Province authorities come up with to promote its referendum on joining the United Nations? What kind of dissatisfaction has caused the people? Today, we invite two current affairs commentators from Taiwan Province to discuss this topic through satellite connection. One is Mr. Li Jiannan, a commentator on current affairs, and the other is Professor Zheng Youping from Taipei University. Hello, guys.
Li Jiannan: Good host, ladies and gentlemen.
Zheng Youping: Good host, everyone.
Moderator: First of all, let’s learn about the relevant situation through a short film.
Recently, the Taiwan Province authorities have resorted to unscrupulous means to promote the referendum on joining the United Nations, which has aroused strong dissatisfaction among the people of Taiwan Province.
According to media reports in Taiwan Province, since October 5th, the Taiwan Province authorities have asked the postal department of Taiwan Province to select tens of thousands of letters each day with the stamp of "Taiwan Province’s entry into the United Nations" in both Chinese and English. This makes Tao Weiji, an American who teaches in Taiwan Province, very dissatisfied.
Tao Weiji: "This is a private letter, not a letter from a government agency. Then it seems that you are putting this sentence in my mouth. I think this is not acceptable. "
According to the requirements of the Taiwan Province authorities, there are 300 post offices in Taiwan, and each post office has to post 200 mails with the stamp of "Joining the United Nations" every day. It is hoped that 60,000 people all over the world will receive such letters every day. Such propaganda techniques have been criticized by representatives of the Kuomintang public opinion.
Representative of the Kuomintang (KMT) public opinion: "The foreigner of the referendum on joining the United Nations seems to regard it as a joke, so we hope that the post office should stop."
It is understood that this policy led by the Taiwan Province authorities will last until the end of December this year. At present, some lawyers have encouraged the public to file charges against this violation of people’s freedom of speech.
The Taiwan Province authorities not only stamped a postmark on private mail promoting "Taiwan Province’s entry into the United Nations", but even added "Taiwan Province’s entry into the United Nations" to students’ examination questions. For example, in the question bank of the website of Taiwan’s education authorities, "What kind of goals will joining the United Nations help achieve?" Such a topic.
Such a topic appeared in the examination questions, which aroused the doubts of teachers and students at school.
(In the same period) Taiwan Province students: "If they speak on their own, they will be terrible, and then they say that they are local feelings, you should respect others first."
Teacher Taiwan Province: "Our teacher’s task is to describe the current situation in society to students. As for comments, it is not convenient for us to participate in political things in class."
Taiwan Province authorities even used the water and electricity bills as a tool to promote "joining the United Nations". Many people in Taiwan Province reported that the water and electricity bills received in September and October were all printed with the propaganda stamp of "Taiwan Province’s joining the United Nations", which caused many people to resent and criticized the Democratic Progressive Party authorities for squandering people’s hard-earned money.
The person in charge of Taiwan Province CNPC also revealed that in September, they received an official document issued by the administrative department and economic department of Taiwan Province requesting to cooperate with the promotion of the referendum on joining the United Nations, stipulating that more than 600 directly operated gas stations in Taiwan Province will post the slogan of joining the United Nations from October, and from November, the slogan of joining the United Nations will also be printed on the invoices of gas stations.
A few days ago, the propaganda of the so-called "referendum on joining the United Nations" by the Taiwan Province authorities by hook or by crook has been met with constant resistance from Taiwan Province society. On October 17th, representatives of the Kuomintang Taipei public opinion came to Chen Shui-bian’s office and demanded to remove the advertising signs erected in front of the office building to promote "Taiwan Province’s accession to the United Nations". They thought that these billboards were illegally erected and should be removed.
(In the same period) Wang Zhibing, a representative of the Kuomintang Taipei public opinion: "Since the end of August, it has been an illegal object."
In response to the Taiwan Province authorities’ unscrupulous propaganda of the "referendum on joining the United Nations", more and more people in Taiwan Province began to show disgust.
Moderator: Ladies and gentlemen, as we have just seen from the information in the short film, the Taiwan Province authorities now require the postal department to stamp more than 60,000 private envelopes with the seal of "Joining the Union" every day, which has already aroused the dissatisfaction of a foreign teacher who works in Taiwan Province, saying that it has violated people’s freedom of speech. Professor Li, what do you think of this matter? Personal letters have become publicity materials for Taiwan Province authorities to join the United Nations. Is this reasonable and legal?
Li: It can be completely unreasonable, unreasonable and illegal. First of all, we know that freedom of speech has two levels, one is freedom of speech and the other is freedom of not speaking. The freedom of speech includes pros and cons. For example, I have written about your "referendum" in the newspaper long ago. I said that "referendum" is a fake topic, and I am totally opposed to "referendum", but I can only vote in newspapers and in places where I can express my freedom of speech. Then you stamped the postmark today, so many people objected. Why did he force this? You violated freedom of speech. Second, there are many people he doesn’t want to express, so you also infringe on his freedom of speech.
The second point we want to talk about is that private letters are private documents in law, and letters from government agencies are called official documents. In the same way, the government has no right to interfere with private documents, because it is an expression of consciousness in law, an expression of my mind, and it has legal effect. If you speak in this way, you will violate freedom of speech and consciousness in law.
Moderator: But now, although some people express strong indignation and opposition, the relevant departments of Taiwan Province authorities say that this practice will not be changed, and the propaganda stamp of "joining the United Nations" will still be stamped. Professor Zheng, what consequences do you think this may bring?
Zheng: Democratic Progressive Party’s practice is obviously an abuse of political power and an arrogance of power. What he represents is that once I can seize power, I will abuse it with me from now on, and no one is allowed to say more. The absurdity of Democratic Progressive Party’s abuse of power and arrogance of power in the referendum on joining the United Nations today is not limited to the stamp. In many other cases, whether it is water and electricity bills, invoices of PetroChina gas stations, or in various organs, he has to put up flags or require public vehicles to be affixed with stickers. All this reflects that Democratic Progressive Party has no so-called "administrative neutrality" at all. Democratic Progressive Party is not only arrogant in power, but also disrespects the neutrality of the administration. He even forces these civil servants in the administrative organs to do something that goes against their own beliefs or their own political positions. This is completely in line with what Mr. Li said just now, and Democratic Progressive Party’s practice is a serious violation of freedom of speech.
In 1977, in New Hampshire, the United States, there was a ridiculous move. At that time, the state government forced the so-called slogan "Give me liberty or give me death" on the license plates of all passenger cars. At that time, some people protested and said, why do I have to accept your slogan "Give me liberty or give me death"? Do I have the freedom to say that I should not put such a stamp on my car? As a result, the lawsuit went all the way to the Federal Supreme Court, and the judgment made by the Federal Supreme Court was very interesting. He said that the constitutional provisions on freedom of speech not only gave people the right to speak freely, but also guaranteed people’s freedom of speech. Therefore, the Federal Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the New Hampshire government was unconstitutional. Ladies and gentlemen, the United States is a country that attaches great importance to freedom of speech. If the precedent of the Supreme Court of the United States cannot give us any enlightenment, then you in Democratic Progressive Party are really blind and deaf. To put it bluntly, this practice is a bit like fascist dictatorship. To put it bluntly, Democratic Progressive Party totally refuses to listen to people’s opposition.
Moderator: Let’s look at it again. When the Taiwanese education department recently announced the examination question bank for middle school students, it was also found that even the current affairs examination for junior high school students in Taiwan Province appeared such a topic as "What kind of task will Taiwan Province strive to return to the United Nations?" Both teachers and students criticized that this topic was too pan-politicized. How do you come to see teachers and students? Why are you dissatisfied with this way of setting questions?
Li: You should know that education has its professional ethics and one of its professional knowledge. If you are in charge, you only consider politics, but not its educational ethics and majors, then this is a complete violation of an education policy. The second question I want to ask is, what is the correct answer? Your correct answer is, is your topic really as effective as your government said? Will you have more negative effects? Let’s say a jingle. I’ll sort it out and say, "Referendum is a fake issue, and no one in the world will dump you, making Taiwan Province more isolated."
Zheng: Democratic Progressive Party used his power and his ideology to infiltrate every corner of Taiwan Province society. That is to say, today’s society in Taiwan Province has become a highly politicized environment, and there is almost no pure land in this environment. We always think that as a teacher, we all think that education and students’ classrooms are the last pure land. If there is no political interference in the campus, what hope will there be in Taiwan Province society? Unfortunately, in the past few years, in order to promote his "going to China", and even this year, they want to promote the absurd move of "joining the League", and they began to use education, using textbooks and exam questions in the church to brainwash students.
Many parents told me that this practice is to ask students to choose sides. Do you want students to start to divide blue and green in the classroom at such a young age in junior high school and high school? What is even more ridiculous is that in a junior high school in Taipei, a history teacher once asked a question a while ago. He said, Who has made no contribution to the democratization of Taiwan Province? His answer is for you to choose, including Jiang Zhongzheng, Jiang Jingguo, Lee Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian. There are 36 children in the class, and 30 children tick Chen Shui-bian without thinking. As a result, the teacher is furious and says that the standard answer should be that Jiang Zhongzheng is not Chen Shui-bian, but the students disagree. Even junior high school children have to face political pollution like this in history class. Of course, many parents are very distressed. Many parents are helpless, that is to say, we can’t see the Yangtze River and Yellow River in history textbooks and the history of China today, and we can’t see such beautiful literature as "Red Cliff Fu", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Tang Poetry and Song Poetry" in China’s past dynasties in literature textbooks. So what is the connotation of Taiwan Province culture in the future? It was Democratic Progressive Party who extended a black hand to education in order to achieve his political goals.
Moderator: We have noticed that Xie Zhiwei, the news director of Taiwan Province, has come forward in response to the dissatisfaction of Taiwan Province people. He said that this "joining the United Nations" is not a policy of Democratic Progressive Party, but a policy of the authorities, so the authorities have the right to do so. What is the meaning behind his remarks?
Zheng: What’s the meaning behind this remark? It’s very simple, because now everyone knows all kinds of absurd actions you are doing. Your biased attitude is, in fact, firstly, a violation of "administrative neutrality". You have seriously violated all the administrative organs. You can’t interfere or participate in these issues in the "election and strike law". For example, this time, some people say that their post office violated the provisions of Articles 13 and 52 of the Referendum Law. Article 13 stipulates that the administrative organ shall not use any form to handle or entrust a referendum on various issues, that is, referendum issues. Administrative organs are not allowed to use any funds or mobilize government employees at all levels. If you violate Article 52 of the Referendum Law, the head of an administrative organ and his related personnel must be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of more than six months and less than three years. Therefore, the Taipei District Inspection Office said today that if anyone comes to report, the Taipei District Inspection Office will investigate this matter.
Moderator: According to your observation, what are the main aspects of Taiwan Province authorities’ propaganda and infiltration in promoting Taiwan Province’s entry into the United Nations this year? What are the main means?
Li: Then his methods can be roughly divided into three types. The first one is to switch from export to domestic sales. For example, he took the statue of Mazu to the United Nations and paid for some heads, because some overseas students who had been caught said how much they would pay to attend that activity, and then they took it back to Taiwan Province through this lens, giving people the feeling that many international people supported us. Just like this time, Xie Zhiwei accompanied Chen Shui-bian to those countries, and those countries simply couldn’t understand what he said. He was singing a gossiping song there, and this was also broadcast back.
The second method is overwhelming, and he does everything he can. Government vehicles have to be posted, and government officials have to post that "referendum on joining the United Nations". Now, like today’s newspaper in my hand, this is today’s newspaper. You can see that the water and electricity tariffs in the middle are also posted. This just shows that this is an absurd authority. Even worse is the headline above. What’s the headline above? He is guilty of forging documents, and he is suspected of forging documents. Why? Some old people went to collect the gold for respecting the elderly, and then he tricked these old people into putting their seals on the signature of the referendum on joining the United Nations. This is a crime of stealing seals in Taiwan Province. If you don’t tell this old man, you will use his seal to steal seals. This is a crime of forging documents, but he is lawless. Not only did he violate the referendum law, but he even violated the criminal law, forging documents and so on.
Moderator: Well, thank you today, Mr. Li, and also thank you, Professor Zheng, for your analysis of the tricks used by the Chen Shui-bian authorities to promote the "referendum on joining the United Nations" recently. Thank you. Thank you for watching. See you next time.
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Editor: Wei Liangchun
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