The Taipei City Government insisted on Tuesday that it had the final say over textbooks used in its schools, and threatened to ask opposition legislators to freeze the Ministry of Educations budget if it fought the city government on the issue.

The ministry said last week that it had invited academics from a civil group called the "Taiwan History Association" to review the content of school textbooks and consider the possibility of revising about 5,000 terms the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party considers "improper" terms. "Cross-strait relations" could be changed to "nation-to-nation relations" and Sun Yat-sens （孫中山） title as the Republic of Chinas （ROC） founding father could be "removed".

Arguing that local governments have the authority to select textbooks, Wu Ching-chi （吳清基）, director of the Taipei City Governments Department of Education, said on Tuesday that he and the directors of education departments in Taipei County and Keelung County would refuse to accept the revisions approved by the ministry.

"Political ideology was behind the ministrys move, and Taipei City wont be able to accept that," Wu said at Taipei City Hall.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin （郝龍斌） agreed with Wus remarks during a municipal meeting on Tuesday morning, and granted Wu full authority to handle the textbook issue.

The KMT last week invited education and history specialists to edit history textbooks from both Taiwanese and global perspectives for use in 18 cities and counties administered by the party.

Wu urged the ministry to respect the authority of local governments concerning school curriculums. He also said if the ministry refused to approve the version it presented, the city government would seek support from opposition legislators to freeze the ministrys textbook evaluation budget.

The city government has locked horns with the ministry over the textbook issue since Hau promised to standardize textbooks in the city to reduce the burden on middle school students.