The Chinese education ministry yesterday denied ordering foreign students to leave before the Olympic Games in August, but one of the country’s major universities said it had canceled summer courses and expected all foreign students whose courses to end this term to leave China by July 10.
A ministry spokesperson issued a statement saying that reports of a ban on foreign students during the Olympics were “false” and that international cooperation and academic exchanges would continue “normally.”
“The relevant stories are totally false,” the spokesperson said in a statement posted on the ministry’s Web site.
“They [universities] have never asked students to leave China during the Olympics and Paralympics,” the statement said.
“During the Olympics and Paralympics, foreign students can continue to stay in China legally,” it said.
However, an administrator at the foreign students’ office of the People’s University in Beijing said summer courses for foreigners were canceled this year.
“We have no short-term training courses this year,” the administrator said.
She confirmed that the courses were canceled because of the holding of the Olympics in Beijing and said that students whose courses end this term would not be able to stay in China.
“This term ends on June 28 and the visas for students on courses which end then will expire on July 10,” she said.
“It is impossible for these people to renew their visas if they want to stay in China or travel in China,” she said.
A spokeswoman for Peking University, one of China’s most prestigious colleges, which enrolls hundreds of foreign students annually on Chinese-language and other courses, on Thursday said most of its foreign students were expected to leave China over the summer.
“Even if you have to continue your studies in September, you need to leave Beijing in July and August,” said the spokeswoman from Peking University’s international department.
The spokeswoman said the two-month gap applies to all universities in Beijing and was ordered by “higher authorities” because of the Olympics.
Peking University has also canceled all short-term summer courses for foreigners this year, she said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2