According to a Liberty Times report on Oct. 18, 72 arts students and six arts teachers from Tongsiao Junior High School, along with 22 students, three teachers and seven parents from the Tongsiao Elementary School baseball and softball teams in Miaoli County, visited Pingtan Island in China’s Fujian Province for exchanges between Oct. 10 and 14.
The visit was ostensibly sponsored by Weihsin Energy, which is owned by China-based Taiwanese businessman Ke Lin-hung (柯林宏), who is originally from Miaoli County. Each student paid only NT$1,000 for the trip. However, the event was organized and funded by the Chinese state-run Fujian Provincial Service Center for Cross-strait Social Organizations. Ke simply acted as intermediary.
The event was presented as a field trip and sports exchange, but the purpose was solely for the Taiwanese students to visit Pingtan. Why did the service center choose Pingtan as the site for educational exchanges?
As the center’s official Web site states, the center was established to explore a new model for exchanges and cooperation between social organizations on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, to create a new platform for such organizations’ joint development, to turn it into an experimental free-trade zone and to better serve such organizations as they jointly construct a common homeland across the Taiwan Strait.
It is easy to see that the center is a united front agency aimed at belittling Taiwan and that Pingtan follows China’s political vision of a “shared homeland across the Taiwan Strait” and an economic zone on the west side of the Taiwan Strait. The purpose of the island is to create an experimental “united front” zone designed to strengthen cross-strait exchange and cooperation.
In March, Ke made the same offer to Rihnan Junior High School in Taichung, of which he is an alumnus. Parents of students at the school later received registration forms for educational exchanges with Fujian Province. The registration fee was also NT$1,000, and all other expenses would be covered by Ke.
This summer, Ke contacted the track and field teams of Rihnan and Shalu Junior High School and Lishin Junior High School in Taichung. Sponsored by the Weitai Enterprise, also owned by Ke, the sports teams visited Pingtan for training. It seems that Ke is systematically working to establish contacts along the Miaoli and Taichung coastline.
On March 19, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) presided over a symposium for teachers of Chinese ideological and political theory in Beijing, demanding that they train “generation after generation” of students to support the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership, beginning at an early age.
It is easy for China to brainwash its own youth, but to brainwash Taiwanese, it needs help to cross the natural barrier of the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwanese businesspeople operating in China are the best helpers, and perhaps they even enjoy certain tax exemptions if they perform well. If they really want to give something back to Taiwan, they would do better to offer a subsidy of NT$1,000 to each student for a trip around Taiwan. Why does Ke always have students visit Pingtan, an experimental “united front” zone?
It seems Ke has already developed a complete “standard operating procedure” for educational “united front” work. Which school would next be lured by China’s “united front” project? Would the Ministry of Education intervene, or would it sit back and watch as schools comply with this educational “united front” work?
Koeh Ian-lim is vice chairman of the Taiwan Teachers’ Union.
Translated by Eddy Chang
In an article published in Newsweek on Monday last week, President William Lai (賴清德) challenged China to retake territories it lost to Russia in the 19th century rather than invade Taiwan. “If it is really for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn’t China take back Russia?” Lai asked, referring to territories lost in 1858 and 1860. The territories once made up the two flanks of northern Manchuria. Once ceded to Russia, they became part of the Russian far east. Claims since then have been made that China and Russia settled the disputes in the 1990s through the 2000s and that “China
Trips to the Kenting Peninsula in Pingtung County have dredged up a lot of public debate and furor, with many complaints about how expensive and unreasonable lodging is. Some people even call it a tourist “butchering ground.” Many local business owners stake claims to beach areas by setting up parasols and driving away people who do not rent them. The managing authority for the area — Kenting National Park — has long ignored the issue. Ultimately, this has affected the willingness of domestic travelers to go there, causing tourist numbers to plummet. In 2008, Taiwan opened the door to Chinese tourists and in
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) arrest is a significant development. He could have become president or vice president on a shared TPP-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) ticket and could have stood again in 2028. If he is found guilty, there would be little chance of that, but what of his party? What about the third force in Taiwanese politics? What does this mean for the disenfranchised young people who he attracted, and what does it mean for his ambitious and ideologically fickle right-hand man, TPP caucus leader Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌)? Ko and Huang have been appealing to that
On Tuesday, President William Lai (賴清德) met with a delegation from the Hoover Institution, a think tank based at Stanford University in California, to discuss strengthening US-Taiwan relations and enhancing peace and stability in the region. The delegation was led by James Ellis Jr, co-chair of the institution’s Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region project and former commander of the US Strategic Command. It also included former Australian minister for foreign affairs Marise Payne, influential US academics and other former policymakers. Think tank diplomacy is an important component of Taiwan’s efforts to maintain high-level dialogue with other nations with which it does
RSS