It will now use numbers instead of places on mainland
Taiwan's Defence Ministry will become the first government organ to comply with the administration's 'name rectification' campaign, which calls for government-controlled institutions to remove references to China.
From Saturday, the telephone switchboards of various military units and departments will no longer use codenames identified with Chinese provinces and cities, information warfare Vice-Commander Major-General Tseng Chang-tuan said yesterday. Numbers will be used instead.
General Tseng said the decision had nothing to do with the so-called 'de-sinoisation' drive, but was required to fit in with the automation of the military's telecommunications system.
He said it would be simple and convenient to use numerical codenames.
The codenames used by operators of the Defence Ministry's military telephone switchboards at the moment are 'Jiangsu' and 'Shanghai'.
The army's 10th Unit is known as 'Hunan', while the codename for the military command in the defence outpost of Kinmen is 'Xikang'. The military command in the resort island of Penghu is called 'Dongting', the codename for the navy headquarters is 'Guangdong', and that of the air force is 'Chongqing'.