China is stepping up efforts to attract Taiwanese professionals by sending officials and representatives to universities under the guise of academic exchanges and start-ups, an official said.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) has ordered various groups representing Chinese interests to organize jobs fairs at Taiwanese universities, a national security official said on condition of anonymity.
The events are to be held at the end of the academic year, when graduates begin looking for jobs, as an extension of the so-called “31 incentives” Beijing announced in February, the official said.
The Shanghai Association of Taiwan is early next month to hold an event in Taipei, while the Xiamen Association of Taiwan is believed to be organizing another event for August, the official said, adding that since February, applications by Chinese to visit Taiwan have increased significantly, with most requesting permission to attend academic conferences or exchanges.
Although the Ministry of the Interior has rejected many suspicious applications, efforts to examine all of the requests in detail have been complicated by their sheer number, the official said.
Chinese in Taiwan are prohibited from seeking employees or distributing literature advertising employment opportunities, the Mainland Affairs Council said, citing the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例).
Job fairs that plan to advertise employment opportunities in Chinese firms and TAO personnel wishing to enter the nation must first obtain government approval, it said, adding that the council has not yet received any such applications.
However, the official said there are reasons to believe that many Chinese groups are lying about their representatives’ itineraries, clandestinely distributing literature advertising employment in China and facilitating the illegal entry of TAO officials.
Universities have, citing the need to protect academic freedom, rebuffed requests for information on exchange programs from the National Immigration Agency and national security agencies, the official said.
“Those arguments, coming from the same schools that allow TAO officials to run wild, are extremely self-contradictory and absurd,” the official said.
As many China-based Taiwanese business associations are directly controlled by TAO officials, it is reasonable to believe that their job fairs are designed to facilitate the TAO’s policy of systematically absorbing Taiwanese professionals, the official said.
The government is investigating the possibility that event organizers have received funding from Beijing and are conducing the events on its behalf, the official added.
The TAO has also sponsored 53 so-called “cross-strait youth start-up campuses” to promote its efforts targeting young Taiwanese.
The TAO-run taiwan.cn says the Nanjing-based campus is working with 13 Taiwanese colleges and universities, while the Kunshan-based campus is working with nine and the Xiamen-based campus has signed agreements with several schools, including Hsiuping University of Science and Technology, Feng Chia University and National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences.
Sources said that some of the universities and colleges involved in the programs have failed to seek prior approval from the Ministry of Education.
The military yesterday showed off its latest domestically produced armored vehicle, the CM-34 Clouded Leopard, at a remote manufacturing site in the nation’s central mountains. Taiwan has been eager to demonstrate its resolve to defend itself should China ever attack. Those fears have become more pronounced over the past few years as Beijing has stepped up military activities near Taiwan. While Taiwan relies on the US for many of its weapons, such as fighter jets, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has been pushing for a greater emphasis on Taiwanese-designed and made armaments, the most high profile of which is new submarines. The eight-wheeled CM-34,
CANCELED TOURS: The booster shot requirement for local tour groups will hopefully be dropped, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai said Starting today, travelers can transit through the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport before flying to a third country, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said this week, after the transit service had been suspended for more than one year. The airport operator resumed the service after the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Saturday further eased border control measures that were imposed to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The center has also lifted the ban on inbound passengers being picked up by friends and relatives at the airport. On Monday afternoon, the company conducted a drill to ensure that all stakeholders at the
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin for disparaging Taiwan’s sovereignty by saying that Taiwan issues are “China’s internal affairs.” The ministry strongly condemned Putin’s “false” remarks that “undermined the sovereignty of the Republic of China,” ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a news briefing. Xinhua news agency cited Putin as telling Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a telephone call on Wednesday that Russia opposed any interference from external forces in China’s internal affairs, such as in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Ou said that Taiwanese elect their government in free and fair elections, adding that only the
TAIPEI INFORMED: The White House said that National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan voiced concern to diplomat Yang Jiechi about Beijing’s activities in the Taiwan Strait Top US and China officials discussed Taiwan, Ukraine and other security issues in Luxembourg, in the latest sign that leaders of the world’s two largest economies are trying to keep high-level communications open despite simmering tensions. The meeting between US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) on Monday “included candid, substantive and productive discussion of a number of regional and global security issues, as well as key issues in US-China relations,” the White House said in a statement, without elaborating. The meeting lasted for four-and-a-half hours, said a senior US administration official who briefed reporters afterward. The
RSS