Editing Taiwanization (section)

=== Education and language campaign ===
In 2000, then-ROC president [[Lee Teng-hui]] began making statements such as "Taiwan culture is not a branch of Chinese culture" and "Taiwan's Minnan dialect is not a branch of [[Fujian]]'s [[Southern Min|Minnan]], dialect but rather a 'Taiwan dialect'<ref name="hoping">Huining, Zhuang; Haixia, Huang. (19 March 2001) [[World News Connection]] ''Hoping for an Early Completion of the Great Cause of National Reunification. China's NPC Deputies, CPPCC Members on Cross-Strait Reunification Viewed.''</ref> Taiwan radio and TV increased their [[Taiwanese Hokkien]] programming.<ref name="hoping"/> These efforts were perceived in China as initial efforts towards breaking the ties between Taiwan culture and Chinese culture by downplaying the long-term Chinese cultural and historic identification in that region.<ref name="hoping"/>

In April 2003, the Committee for Promoting Mandarin, which was part of Taiwan's Ministry of Education, released a legislation proposal entitled "Language Equality Law."<ref name="suppressing">Weixue, Peng (Beijing Renmin Wang). (10 April 2003) [[Open Source Center|World News Connection]] ''Taiwan Strait Observation: Taiwan Authorities Are Suppressing 'Mandarin' and Promoting 'Cultural Taiwan Independence.'''</ref> The proposed legislation sought to designate fourteen languages as the national languages of Taiwan.<ref name="suppressing"/> In mainland China, this was seen as an effort to diminish the use of [[standard Mandarin]] and its cultural influences in favor of revising the cultural and psychological foundations on the island of Taiwan by using other languages.<ref name="suppressing"/> The draft was not adopted.<ref name="suppressing"/>

The textbook issue was raised in November 2004, when a group of lawmakers, legislative candidates and supporters of the pro-independence [[Taiwan Solidarity Union]] (TSU) urged the [[ROC Ministry of Education]] to publish Taiwan-centric history and geography textbooks for school children as part of the Taiwanization campaign.<ref>Wu, Sofia - [[Central News Agency (Republic of China)|Taipei Central News Agency]]. (9 November 2004) [[Open Source Center|World News Connection]] ''Tsu Lawmakers Call For Taiwan-centric History Textbooks.''</ref> Although the resulting draft outline of history course for regular senior middle schools was criticized by a variety of groups,<ref>[[People's Daily|People's Daily Online]] (11 November 2004) ''[http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200411/11/eng20041111_163629.html Islanders Criticize Taiwan Authorities' Outline of New History Course.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001172558/http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200411/11/eng20041111_163629.html |date=2012-10-01 }}''</ref> President [[Chen Shui-bian]] responded that "to seek the truth of Taiwan's history" is not equal to [[desinicization]] nor an act of independence and indicated that he would not interfere with the history editing and compilation efforts.<ref>Chieh-yu, Lin. (19 November 2004) [[Taipei Times]] ''[http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2004/11/19/2003211651 Chen says he's open-minded when it comes to history.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407073332/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2004/11/19/2003211651 |date=2019-04-07 }}'' Page 3.</ref><ref>Wu, Lilian. (21 July 2007) [[Central News Agency (Republic of China)|Taiwan Headlines]] ''[http://www.cna.com.tw/eng/cepread.php?id=200707210028 Education Minister Denies Accusations On Textbooks.]{{Dead link|date=April 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}''</ref>

The proposals to revise Taiwan's history textbooks were condemned in February 2007 by the [[People's Republic of China]]'s [[Taiwan Affairs Office|Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council]] as being part of the desinicization campaign.<ref>[[PLA Daily|Beijing Jiefangjun Bao]] (1 February 2007) ''[http://www.chinamil.com.cn/site1/xwpdxw/2007-02/01/content_723435.htm Chinese State Council Taiwan Affairs Office Condemns Taiwan Authorities Revising History Textbooks as Desinicization Move.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720022743/http://www.chinamil.com.cn/site1/xwpdxw/2007-02/01/content_723435.htm |date=2011-07-20 }}''</ref> In July 2007, the [[Education in Taiwan|Taiwan Ministry of Education]] released a study that found 5,000 textbook terms, some relating to Chinese culture, as being "unsuitable".<ref>[[China Post]] (22 July 2007) ''[http://www.chinapost.com.tw/print/115697.htm Ministry of Education study concludes 5,000 textbook terms 'unsuitable'.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303171041/http://www.chinapost.com.tw/print/115697.htm |date=2016-03-03 }}''</ref> The [[Kuomintang]] saw this as part of a textbook censorship desinicization campaign.<ref>[[China Post]] (23 July 2007) ''Opposition slams Taiwan denial textbook censorship desinicization campaign.''</ref> The proposals have not been adopted.