While most Taiwanese favored allowing Chinese students to study in Taiwan, legal measures must be in place to manage their stay and protect the interests of local students, a poll released yesterday by the Taiwan Thinktank showed.
The survey showed that 54.3 percent of respondents supported allowing Chinese students to study in local colleges and universities, while 44 percent said they were against it.
A majority of the people polled, however, said the government must have strategic measures in place to minimize its impact.
The poll questioned 1,128 adults nationwide on Aug. 9 and Aug. 10.
On the issue of recognizing Chinese educational credentials, more than 54 percent of respondents opposed the measure compared with 41.6 percent who supported it.
Once Chinese students are allowed to study here, 62.8 percent of respondents said they should not be allowed to work here, while 36.3 percent said they should. Nearly 69 percent said they were against Chinese students staying here after graduation, while 29.9 percent said they supported it.
LICENSE
More than 81 percent said Chinese students should not be allowed to take national examinations to obtain licenses or certificates against 16.3 percent who said they should.
Asked whether the government should have a mechanism in place to manage Chinese students, 88.1 percent said it should, while 10.4 percent said no. While the government has proposed implementing such measures through an executive decree, 81.7 percent of those polled said the legislature should approve the measures, while 15.4 percent saw no need for legislation.
The legislature is scheduled to hold a two-week provisional session starting on Tuesday to tackle a number of contentious bills, including proposed revisions to the University Act (大學法), the Vocational School Act (專科學校法) and the Act Governing the Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) to allow local schools to accept Chinese students.
Taiwan Thinktank executive director Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said a well-thought-out mechanism must be in place to manage Chinese students and restrictions must be written into law.
The restrictions — dubbed “three limits and six noes” — were proposed by the Ministry of Education to protect the interests of Taiwanese students.
The “three limits” refer to restrictions on the number of Chinese universities that the government plans to recognize, the total number of Chinese college students who can enter Taiwan to study and the types of Chinese diplomas that can be accredited in Taiwan.
The “six noes” would prohibit Chinese students from receiving scholarships, obtaining a professional license, working and/or staying in Taiwan upon graduation, receiving extra points on examinations and taking part in civil service examinations.
Cheng said the policy must not cost local students their chances of being admitted to college or winning a scholarship.
Chinese students must also not be allowed to work in Taiwan or take national examinations to obtain licenses, she added.
Cheng also urged the government to offer educational resources to local students or relax restrictions on obtaining such resources rather than favoring their Chinese counterparts.
POLICY EVALUATION
The government must allow at least six years to evaluate the policy and map out necessary measures before increasing the number of Chinese students, she said, while urging the government to abolish or amend executive decrees allowing Chinese nationals to study here in their capacity as professionals.
At a separate setting yesterday, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) lauded the policy of allowing Chinese students to study here as a way of laying the foundation for sustainable peace across the Taiwan Strait.
Ma said the policy would help Taiwanese students better understand their Chinese counterparts at an early age and therefore help create peace across the Taiwan Strait.
“Such an opening is conducive to cross-strait peace, sharpening the competitiveness of Taiwanese students and helping local colleges and universities recruit more students,” Ma said while addressing a Buddhist summer camp at Fokuangshan monastery in Kaohsiung County. “To pursue everlasting peace in the [Taiwan] Strait, we should create chances that allow youth from the two sides to know each other at an earlier stage.”
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique