On Sunday the “Sing! China: Shanghai-Taipei Music Festival” took place at National Taiwan University’s (NTU) athletic field.
On the promotional poster for the event, Taiwan’s foremost seat of learning was demoted to “Taipei City Taiwan University,” reducing it to the status of a lowly municipal university.
Not only was the event’s co-organizer, the Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs, left with egg on its face, the Taipei City Government also came off badly.
First, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) controversially stated during a visit to Shanghai earlier this year that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are “one family.” Next, the official guide to the Taipei Summer Universiade referred to Taiwan as “Chinese Taipei,” followed by the banning of Republic of China flags at Universiade venues. Now NTU has been belittled, adding another reason for the public to wonder why Ko is allowing his administration to sell out Taiwan time and again.
Despite NTU students repeatedly having exposed the school’s intentions during preparations for the event, city government and university authorities colluded in disregarding the school’s regulations on leasing out property, casting aside students’ right to priority use of the athletics field for physical education and team practice.
NTU authorities initially tried to hide that the athletic field was being hired out to China’s Shanghai City Association for the Promotion of Cross-strait Exchange, the event’s organizer. It was not until students tried to book the facility that university authorities revealed that the students’ training and recreational space was to be commandeered by someone else.
In recent years, Beijing has continually used festivals, competitions and other events with the word “China” inserted into the name and invited Taiwanese singers and artists to perform at these events.
The intention is to send a message to the public that “Taiwan is part of China” — the cultural component of Beijing’s wider campaign to achieve the unification of Taiwan and China.
Moreover, by repeatedly broadcasting these events in the media, the purpose is to beam around the world the false idea that Taiwanese see themselves as part of China.
Unaware of the danger posed to their nation by participating in such events, there is always a plentiful supply of Taiwanese artists and performers willing to take part and denigrate themselves by saying that they are from “Chinese Taiwan” or some “Chinese city,” just to get their hands on some Chinese coin.
The tentacles of China’s cultural unification campaign naturally extend from the public up to the government level, including a deep penetration into the Taipei City Government.
The wording of Ko’s speech in Shanghai, the Taipei Police Department’s policing of national flags at Universiade sporting events and this latest incident should sound the alarm that the enemy has infiltrated the city government.
If we allow this to continue, all future events organized by China will, under the supervision of the Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs as co-organizer, be able to reduce NTU to the status of “Taipei City Taiwan University,” not to mention permitting the demeaning name “Sing! China: Shanghai-Taipei Music Festival.”
Ko must seriously face up to his administration’s repeated and careless cheapening of Taiwan’s national status. Ko needs to realize that if he continues to allow the Taipei City Government to join forces with Beijing in its “cultural unification campaign,” he will end up causing irreparable damage to his political career.
Lau Yi-te is chairman of the Taiwan Solidarity Union.
Translated by Edward Jones
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