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Resistance to teaching in Chinese means subversion under new Inner Mongolia policy

蘋果日報 2020/09/19 21:12


Opponents to teaching in the Chinese language would be deemed acting against the government and in subversion of the regime, under a new policy in China’s autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, Apple Daily has learned.
The political stance was contained in a new document written by the local government and uncovered by Radio Free Asia after days of protests against the replacement of the native Mongolian language with Mandarin Chinese as the main teaching medium from Sept. 1.
Two local government officials were last week suspended for refusing to implement the language policy and would face further disciplinary action, local media outlet Shangdu News reported. The party committee office of the Bairin Right Banner warned civil servants and other government staffers to send their children to school on Monday or face suspension on Tuesday and possibly dismissal.
Since the protests broke out in the new school term this month, the government had been demanding each teacher to force five to 10 students to go to school, according to Nomin, an ethnic Mongolian living in the United States.
“The officials said there was no point in discussing the law as it was a political mission. They said opposition to dual language teaching would be equivalent to opposing the government and subversion,” Nomin said.
Many ethnic Mongolians still refused to send their children to school, Japan-based Mongolian scholar Khereid Khuvisgalt said.
Hundreds were arrested in cities in Inner Mongolia, according to Nomin. Four people were detained in Bayannur for allegedly spreading false information, blocking students from attending school, inciting an unlawful gathering and organizing a petition to oppose the implementation of new teaching materials, local police said on Sunday.
Police in the Naiman Banner and Horqin Left Middle Banner also detained 17 people for allegedly spreading false information about the new teaching materials and for preventing students from going to school using threats and insults.
Tongliao city police were offering a reward of 1,000 yuan (US$146) for information on protesters. The police also said they would thoroughly investigate people gathering in public places.
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