A top Chinese dissident warned that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) second term in office could give rise to a situation in which one’s ability to teach at university in Taiwan depended on Beijing’s “goodwill.”
Wang Dan (王丹), one of the student leaders at Tiananmen Square in 1989 who now lives in Taiwan, said several professors at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) expressed opposition to a course he was expected to teach.
“I have been unable to start teaching History of the People’s Republic of China [PRC], despite having been a visiting scholar at National Cheng Kung for a year,” Wang said.
Photo: CNA
“Now that I have left National Cheng Kung, there are some things I can finally say out loud. Some may find it strange that I did not teach any courses, despite being at the univerity for a year, and only formed the ‘Chinese Salon’ with other student organizations,” Wang wrote on his Facebook page on Friday.
“The reason is this: Despite the leaders at National Cheng Kung welcoming me warmly and many students, including students from China, wanting to come to my classes, some professors strongly opposed that and the reason … is that it would damage cross-strait exchanges!” he wrote.
“Had such an absurdity not happened to me, I might not have believed it. However, dear Taiwanese friends, this is fact; the fact is the shadow of the PRC is already over Taiwan! Despite the fact that the PRC is not yet in Taiwan, some Taiwanese have already become afraid and started to discipline themselves,” he wrote.
“You have not felt it yet, because you have not yet felt its influences; but I have, and that is the reason why I said ‘the loss of democracy is not felt,’” Wang wrote.
Attending the “graduation ceremony” for the New School for Democracy on Sunday, Wang spoke about the situation experienced by Hong Kong media, adding that the endorsement by some Taiwanese firms of the so-called “1992 consensus” ahead of the presidential election on Saturday was “certainly due to the Chinese element” and that threats from the PRC were working.
“This is a cause for worry,” he said.
In response to Wang’s comments, the university said its scholastic environment was very liberal and that there were classes of all kinds, adding that the reason why they did not arrange for Wang to teach was the result of “insufficient time.”
Although Wang did not teach at the university, he often made public speeches through the university’s Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, it said, adding that other academics had also been invited to make speeches there.
Wang also interacted dynamically with Taiwanese and Chinese students at the school on cross-strait and democratic issues through the “Chinese Salon” held every two weeks, the university said.
The auditorium for his farewell speech last month was filled to the rafters, it said.
Teaching classes is only one method of providing students with educational opportunities, but it is not necessarily any less influential than speaking freely with students, the university said.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
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