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Chinese academics arrive for Tainan County symposium

A group of Chinese academics, including Zhang Mingqing (張銘清), vice chairman of China’s intermediary body, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), arrived in Taiwan yesterday. They are scheduled to take part in an academic symposium in Tainan County today.

Zhang, formerly a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office under China’s State Council before becoming the deputy head of ARATS in 2006, is leading a 21-member Chinese academic group to attend the 2008 Cross-Strait Academic Symposium on Mass Communications and Image Arts to be held at Tainan National University of the Arts (TNUA) located in Guantian Township (官田), Tainan County.

DEAN

Zhang is taking part in the academic symposium in his capacity as dean of Xiamen University’s School of Journalism and Communication.

“The symposium, which is titled Globalization and Reflection on Values, is aimed at examining the cultural assets and unique values in Taiwan and China, respectively, in the face of increasing globalization and the development of homogeneity in modern societies,” said Chen Ling-hui (陳齡慧), director of the TNUA College of Sound and Image Arts, one of the sponsors of the symposium.

Zhang and other Chinese academics will deliver speeches and share their research papers with their Taiwanese counterparts during the one-day symposium, which is the seventh of its kind, Chen said.

FIELD TRIPS

They are also scheduled to make field trips to other universities in southern Taiwan tomorrow to “hear in person more local voices from Taiwan,” Chen said.

On reports that some Democratic Progressive Party supporters will protest against Zhang at TNUA, Chen Ling-hui said Zhang’s visit is for purely academic purposes and has nothing to do with politics.

“TNUA respects the freedom of speech of all members of Taiwanese society, but the school hopes that the protesters will look rationally at the reality and not interrupt the symposium,” the director said.
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