RE: why must Debian call Taiwan a "Province of China"?
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dircha [mailto:dircha@bethel.edu]
> Sent: Monday, 5 April 2004 1:54 PM
> To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
> Subject: Re: why must Debian call Taiwan a "Province of China"?
>
>
> Bruce Miller wrote:
> > It is perfectly reasonable of Debian to adopt an international
> > standard.
> > It raises Debian above the debate which is taking place here.
>
> I protest. It is not perfectly reasonable. This is not a
> political issue
> for me. I have no established opinion as to whether or not Taiwan is
> properly a "Province of China."
>
> Debian does not obtain neutrality by selecting an existing political
> compromise and simply saying, "That's it, we don't want to get
> involved." Simply saying something does not make it so. As I
> explained
> at length, "Province of China" serves no legitimate purpose in the
> selection of a locale. Its sole purpose is to convey a political
> statement (a relation of political authority of a part to a whole)
> beyond this single purpose, a statement which is highly
> controversial.
> Debian can not hide behind "it is a standard". As I have thoroughly
> explained previously, selecting "Taiwan, Province of China"
> is a choice
> (a selection made without necessity), and is not a choice
> warranted by
> any practical consideration.
>
> The "perfectly reasonable" option is to remove the political
> commentary,
> "Province of China" and to stop hiding behind "it is a standard," an
> appeal to authority, as if that could legitimize the inclusion of an
> assertion of a political relation, where there ought not to be one.
>
> Even now, selecting "Taiwan" is not to select, "not Province
> of China."
> Rather, it is to de-politicize the statement altogether.
> "Taiwan" does
> not mean, "Taiwan, not Province of China." It is neutral on
> the issue.
> Publications around the world and in China itself employ "Taiwan"
> independently of "Taiwan, Province of China."
>
> Neither is the act itself of now removing "Province of China" a
> political act. It is an act by a party that wishes to remain
> neutral to
> de-politicize the a representation of a locale. Further, no practical
> value is lost by de-politicizing this representation, for
> "Province of
> China" served no practical or non-political end to begin with.
>
> dircha
>
>
Microsoft Server 2003 uses "Taiwan".
I can't work out what OSX uses as each country in the country list is
shown in the alphabet/font/language of the country.
Presumably it's one of the ones with dots and squiggles. (yes, the're
all dot and sqiggles to someone, I know)
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