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Re: why must Debian call Taiwan a "Province of China"?



I wrote:
> "Taiwan, Republic of China" is as much a political statement as is
> "Taiwan, Province of China".  "Taiwan" is just a place name.

Kirk Strauser writes:
> ...and a political statement that you don't recognize China's claim.

"Taiwan, Republic of China" is a political statement that you don't
recognize China's claim.  "Taiwan" is neutral.  Failure to parrot the
Chinese government's political statement is not opposing it: it's ignoring
it.  

> I am not an authority on the matter, and my naming of an entity isn't a
> good enough reason to declare it a fact.  I typically refer to the name
> of my country as "America", but that's not its official name.

Why does "official" matter?  "Taiwan" is unambiguous and universally
understood.

> Frankly, I don't think that it's Debian's place to take the political
> stance that it disagrees with the name that one particular standards
> organization has given a geographical [region]...

That standards organization is a political organization which has assigned
that name for a political purpose.  Debian need not further that purpose.

> ...particularly since it does accept the other assigned names from that
> list.

The other names are reasonable.
-- 
John Hasler               You may treat this work as if it 
john@dhh.gt.org           were in the public domain.
Dancing Horse Hill        I waive all rights.
Elmwood, Wisconsin



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