Over half of the high school history books screened by the education ministry this year have had their content changed to reflect the government's view of history, ministry officials said Wednesday.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='250' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='../images/photos2006/nn20060330a1a.jpg' WIDTH='250' HEIGHT='163'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>A flash mark used to indicate territorial disputes was recently removed from this high school textbook map during an education ministry screening, bolstering Japan's claim to the Senkaku islets –

, which it controls.

The ministry ordered revisions to most references made to two groups of islets at the center of territorial disputes -- the uninhabited, Japan-controlled Senkaku Islands that China and Taiwan also claim, and the Takeshima islets controlled by South Korea, which calls them Dokdo.