HK and Taiwanese activists force mass numbers against UN

The South China Morning Post has reported that thousands of Hong Kong and Taiwanese activists have signed an online petition against an apparent attempt by the United Nations to purge traditional Chinese characters from its documents by 2008.

As of today, there were 346,600 protest votes worldwide on GoPetition.com. Taiwan led the way with 196,300 votes, while Hong Kong has contributed 52,200 votes. Activists have voted from over 90 countries globally.

But has the petition on leading website GoPetition.com come several decades too late? A UN spokesman said the organisation (UN) had been using simplified characters since the 1970s, when Chinese representation on the world body switched from Taipei to Beijing. It appears, however, that there may clear political motivation for this exclusive use of simplified Chinese.

Angel Lin Mei-yi, associate professor in the faculty of education at Chinese University, said that because traditional characters distinguished Hong Kong from the mainland, the topic was often viewed through a political lens.

“It’s an emotionally charged issue,” Dr Lin said. “From an educational point of view, we have done a lot of research on the benefits of the two written forms.

“We’ve found that traditional characters are easier to learn, because there are more indicators as to what a word means, while simplified characters are easier to learn to write.”

After the website’s compilers confirmed that the UN had, in fact, already stopped using traditional characters, petitioners were urged to carry on the fight.

Meanwhile, the Taipei Times reported last month that a group of scholars was applying to the UN for protection of traditional characters as a world cultural heritage.

The mass global support revealed on GoPetition.com clearly gives the UN, and its members, something to think about.

GoPetition eds, June 16, 2007

To view the South China Morning Post article click here.