Taiwan’s colleges and graduate schools will begin accepting Chinese students next spring after the legislature yesterday approved amendments recognizing Chinese certificates and allowing Chinese students to study in Taiwan.
Following rounds of negotiation, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucuses reached consensus by agreeing to write into law that Taiwan will not recognize Chinese certificates in medicine-related areas and that Chinese students will be prohibited from enrolling in departments that deal with national security matters such as national defense, sensitive agricultural technology, aviation, satellite technology and hydrological subjects.
Chinese students will also be barred by law from taking civil service exams and obtaining professional licenses.
Not written into law, but attached as a resolution, was a ban on Chinese students working part-time during their studies.
However, the DPP caucus failed to attach other proposed resolutions to the acts, including one asking Chinese students to pay double the tuition of Taiwanese students.
Under the amended acts, the number of Chinese students admitted by universities in the initial stage of the program cannot exceed 1 percent of the total enrollment. This equals about 2,000 students nationwide.
Taiwan will recognize educational credentials from 41 selected Chinese universities, with the exception of medicine-related certificates. The regulation cannot be applied retroactively.
The DPP had previously demanded that a set of restrictive measures — dubbed the “three limits and six noes” — be included in the law amendments.
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 a limit on the types of Chinese diplomas that will be accredited in Taiwan.
The “six noes” would ban Chinese students from receiving scholarships or professional licenses, keep them from working or staying in Taiwan upon graduation, ban them from receiving extra points on examinations and prevent them from taking the civil service examinations.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) hailed the passage of the amendments, saying the move represented the nation’s confidence in its democratic system and that it would create a chance “to transform Chinese students.”
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲), on the other hand, offered an apology to the public on the legislative floor for her caucus being unable to block the policy and impose other measures on Chinese students to better protect the interests of Taiwanese students.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said his caucus was satisfied, in general, with the compromise, as the rest of the restrictions outlined in the “three limits and six noes” would be carried out in the form of an executive order by the Ministry of Education.
“From a legal perspective, Chinese students will not be able to come to Taiwan to work … We just want to make this very clear,” Ker said. “If [they] come to Taiwan to study, [they] should be studying.”
Kuan said the details were needed to ensure that Chinese students did not take away employment opportunities from Taiwanese.
“It’s simply too big of an issue to ignore and it’s going to have a huge impact on our students unless it is regulated,” she said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO AND CNA
Also See: Handle our democracy with care
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
RSS