When Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation arrived at National Taiwan University’s (NTU) College of Social Sciences, they were met by protesting students holding cardboard signs and books.
The NTU students were eager to have exchanges on freedom, democracy, and human rights with the tour group. They wished to discuss issues on Xinjiang, Hong Kong, gender equality, the Tiananmen Square Massacre, freedom of speech and Taiwan’s sovereignty with them. However, it was a shame that the Chinese students left in a hurry. None of them dared to stop by for an “exchange.”
The Chinese students were welcomed by students and teachers in their previous school stops as if they were superstars. They were praised for their accomplishments. What Taiwan got in return was being mocked by one of the Chinese students. A student from China’s Fudan University on Sunday said the tour group “would like to congratulate the China Taipei team on their win” in the Premier12 baseball championship in Tokyo last month.
Videos of Olympic gold medalist Ma Long (馬龍), surrounded by students at the Taipei Municipal Zhong Shan Girls’ High School, went viral on Chinese social media platforms. Chinese news media and social media platforms described it as Ma entering a “gossamer cave” (盤絲洞), in which she-devils (actually spiders) tried to seduce and eat the Buddhist master Tripitaka (唐三藏) in the Chinese classic Journey to the West (西遊記). It is shameful that the young students were compared to spider-demon seductresses.
What the NTU students did was impressive. Getting straight to the point, they asked the tour group if the Chinese government values freedom, democracy and human rights. This is something that the students cannot hear about in China because the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has indoctrinated them on “the greatness of the motherland.” Chinese students only hear CCP propaganda about the government’s accomplishments, from basic infrastructure to space development, and China’s superiority.
The CCP government would not show the dark side of reality. Chinese students would not know what an election is. How could China call itself a “republic”? Chinese students were taught about how authoritarian and corrupt the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was when it ruled China, that former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) was called “the people’s enemy,” and that Taiwan belongs to China.
However, they were not told how Taiwanese see the CCP’s barbaric actions. Without freedom, democracy and human rights, the achievements of the country and the people would be meaningless.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should have taken the tour group to the National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine and the Cihu Mausoleum to let them get a feeling of the national flag and the honor guard of the Republic of China (ROC).
But Ma would probably not dare to do so. When Chinese envoy Chen Yun-lin (陳雲林) visited Taiwan when Ma was president, police were ordered to forcefully remove ROC flags.
I am very proud of the NTU students’ demonstration of moral courage. They are the role models of what NTU students should be like.
Teng Hon-yuan is a university professor.
Translated by Fion Khan
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