Danger to academic freedom
The authorities in China’s Zhejiang Province have demanded that Taiwanese universities that wish to encourage student exchanges across the Taiwan Strait first sign a “One China Letter of Commitment.”
For universities that do not know how to go about writing such a letter, the Chinese Communist Party produced a template based on an “Educational Letter of Commitment” signed by the Lifelong Education Center at Shih Hsin University, which issued a guarantee to China that classes would not touch upon any politically sensitive issues.
What are “politically sensitive issues”? Politics is something that concerns us all. This means that as soon as there is a controversial issue for which people hold different opinions, it is politically sensitive.
When Taiwan’s universities sign a document agreeing that its classes will not involve issues that China has decided are politically sensitive, does that not mean that they should be just as glad to accept demands from South Korea that the scandal surrounding suspended South Korean President Park Geun-hye not be mentioned in classes attended by South Korean students, or a British requirement that Scottish independence not be mentioned in classes attended by British students?
It does not end there. Issues such as removing references to late dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), pension reform, party assets and same-sex marriage are all politically sensitive issues. If parents began demanding that schools sign affidavits pledging not to mention a certain sensitive issue before they allow their children to attend, surely schools would have to oblige.
The freedom of expression that we enjoy today came at a price, and academic freedom is part of it.
In addition to that, academic freedom is an area that must under no circumstances be open to political manipulation.
If Shih Hsin University is sacrificing academic freedom by signing an “Educational Letter of Commitment” to allow China to humiliate our sacred halls of education in the most vulgar manner, it is bringing shame on Taiwan’s higher education.
Wu Chin
Taipei
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