Independence advocates yesterday announced the launch of a signature drive demanding that Academia Sinica change its name.
The initiative is supported by senior presidential adviser Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文), Taiwan Nation Alliance Convener Wu Shu-min (吳樹民) and more than 30 groups. They expect that it would gather the targeted number of signatures next week.
Yao, Wu and others on June 20 paid Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) a visit, urging him to support their cause, they said.
The name Academia Sinica, meaning “Chinese Academy” in Latin, might cause people in the international scientific community to mistakenly believe the institution is based in
‘CLARITY NEEDED’: The institution should drop the reference to China and replace it with ‘Taiwan’ or ‘Formosa,’ a presidential adviser saidBy Lee Hsin-fang and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Academia Sinica members are concerned the institution’s widely used Latin name might cause foreign researchers to mistakenly assume it is based in China, and it is deliberating a new name.
The institution plans to raise the issue at the legislature today, sources said, adding that Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) had also brought the issue up with Academia Sinica President James Liao (廖俊智) during a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee in March last year.
Academia Sinica has sometimes been confused with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as its Latin name translates to “Chinese Academy” in English,
COMMITTEE FINDINGS: Most people approved of adding ‘Taiwan’ to the end of the name, which translates to ‘Chinese Academy’ in EnglishBy Chien Hui-ju and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer