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Tsai warns of Chinese students’ impact

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday urged the government to deliberate on the impact of its plan to allow Chinese students to enroll in universities in Taiwan.

“Recognizing Chinese diplomas and allowing Chinese students to attend universities in Taiwan is a public policy issue, not a political or ideological issue,” Tsai said during a conference held by the party’s Policy Research Committee yesterday morning.

“This issue has many levels of complexity and [any decision] could change the basic social structure of the two sides across the Taiwan Strait,” she said.

Tsai said the Chinese Nationalist Party government had been arguing for the policy on the grounds that the policy could help improve cross-strait relations.

“But I don’t think there is a causal relation here,” she said.

Tsai accused the government of failing to deal with the issue seriously and conduct thorough policy planning and evaluation before President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) announced last month that the policy might take effect next year at the earliest.

The Ministry of Education has included recognizing Chinese credentials and enrolling Chinese students in Taiwan’s universities as part of its objectives after the president made the announcement.

Ma had said that Chinese students would not be allowed to participate in examinations for professional certificates in Taiwan.

Hsieh Kuo-ching (謝國清), chairman of the National Alliance of Parents Organization, said at the conference that the government had defended its plan by saying that recruiting students from China would help private universities overcome the threat posed by a declining birth rate.

“But from a parent’s perspective, [the policy should not be imposed] simply to help private universities solve their problem,” Hsieh said, adding that the government should provide parents with more statistics to persuade them that the policy would bring positive effects.

Hsueh Hua-yuan (薛化元), a professor of Taiwanese history at National Chengchi University, said he had reservations about the government’s plan because the government might not be able to achieve the positive effects it wanted.

Medical student Yang Chih-yuan (楊智淵), who attended yesterday’s conference, said he was concerned that Chinese students would use up the educational resources local students enjoy.

“Taiwan and China are competing with each other. Therefore, Taiwan should have a stricter regulation on Chinese students than the US and Europe do, or there will be an impact on the distribution of educational resources, the balance of our job market and our social stability,” Yang said.
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