Law amendment to enhance awareness about territory

The amendment of China’s draft surveying and mapping law, which adds raising awareness about national territory to students’ patriotic education, is a necessary move as the country increasingly faces complicated sovereignty challenges, scholars said.

The amended draft of surveying and mapping law was submitted to lawmakers for a second reading at the bimonthly session of the 12th National People’s Congress ( NPC) Standing Committee, which runs until Thursday, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The draft stipulates that the education administrative departments and elementary and middle schools should include knowledge about national territory in the curricula.

Enhancing knowledge about na- tional territory is an important part of the patriotic education, Xie Jingrong, a vice chairman of the Law Committee of the NPC, said when briefing the country’s legislators.

Xie added that governments at all levels should enhance publicity and media outlets should also play a role in the process.

The amendment states clearly that primary and middle schools should include knowledge about national territory in the curricula.

The NPC Law Committee suggested that curricula change should be written in a separate article in the general principles of the first chapter of the draft, said Xie.

Wang Hongwei, an associate professor at Beijing’s Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Tuesday that “the draft amendment fulfills an urgent need as many coun- tries that are challenging China’s territorial sovereignty are already working on spreading false knowledge about history through their textbooks for children.”

“For example, the Japanese government has previously approved elementary school textbooks claiming China’s Diaoyu Islands as part of Japan’s territory … China should strengthen the awareness and enhance the correct view of history in its schools, before it is too late,” Wang warned.

The revisions also deal with the use of safe and reliable technology and equipment, management of navigation and positioning reference stations and supervision of the Internet mapping services, said Xie.

The law was formulated in 1992 and amended for the first time 10 years later.