After an application is submitted, approval must be granted before publication, else the publisher would be penalized, it said. Cheng said that a law requiring publishers to receive approval to publish books from China in Taiwan has long existed and the ministry is simply enforcing it. The regulations allow authorities to withhold approval if the content of the published materials “propagate communism or engage in united front tactics” or harm public order. According to the UDN, the ministry sent the notice after finding that 43 books from China targeted at elementary and junior-high school students were published in Taiwan without being submitted for review and approval. Cheng reiterated that she had not given instructions to strengthen the review of Chinese works and that the ministry has never had such a plan or carried out substantive reviews.

Source: Taipei Times May 11, 2018 15:56 UTC