Taipei - Taiwan, putting aside long-standing political considerations, said Wednesday that it is adopting China's phonetic spelling system to prevent confusion in communications with foreigners.
The cabinet said Taiwan's local and county governments must use China's Hanyu Pinyin when translating place names and road names from Chinese into Roman alphabets.
Those who refuse to follow the order would not receive subsidies for transliterating place names from the central government.
"Hanyu Pinyin is being used by the United Nations and world libraries," Education Ministry official Chen Hsueh-yu said. "Adopting it can make it easier for foreigners to do business or travel in Taiwan."