Almost every department at National Taiwan University (NTU), the nation’s top academic institution, is dropping the “N” from the school’s initials when it holds joint conferences with Chinese schools or cooperates on academic work, sources said yesterday.
The practice, described as “university-wide,” began more than a year ago, a source at the university told the Taipei Times on condition of anonymity, referring to official documents on conferences and panels held with Chinese universities.
According to another academic at the school who was also in a position to see the documents, the removal of the “N” in the university’s official initials — a source of pride for many Taiwanese — applied to “a lot of, if not all departments” involved in exchanges with China. However, it has yet to be determined whether the practice is now official policy at the university or was initiated by department heads or individual academics.
NTU was 87th in this year’s QS World University Rankings.
References to the school as “Taiwan University” began to appear about a year ago, including Peking University’s holding of a “Taiwan University Day” on Dec. 20 last year to “strengthen intercollegiate exchanges and academic co-operations [sic] with our university,” NTU says on its Web site. A special exhibition held in May highlighting the ties between the two universities was titled “Time and space rendezvous between Taiwan University and Peking University.”
A document datelined May 11 on the Peking University Web site refers to NTU as “Taiwan University” and also excises the word “national” from National Chengchi University, National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), National Central University and National Cheng Kung University.
NTNU confirmed at a forum on cross-strait affairs in July that it had changed its name in advertisements in an effort to attract more Chinese students. That change, which university officials said was a gesture of “goodwill” toward China, was the removal of “national” from its official title.
In August, a neurobiologist at Peking University made the news after insisting that a Taiwanese team led by neurobiologist Chiang Ann-shyn (江安世) of National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu, which collaborated with Peking University on research, identify the university as being located in “Taiwan, China.”
In addition to the removal of “national” from its official title, there are signs NTU is placing undue emphasis on visiting academics from China at the expense of academics from other countries.
The Web site for NTU’s Institute of Advanced Studies of Humanities and Social Sciences, for example, shows that of the 52 visiting scholars at the institute this year, 46 have been from Chinese universities, with just four from the US and two from Europe.
CLOSURES: Several forest recreation areas have been closed as a precaution, while some ferry and flight services have been suspended or rescheduled A land warning for Tropical Storm Danas was issued last night at 8:30pm, as the storm’s outer bands began bringing heavy rain to southeastern regions, including Hualien and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). As of 9:15pm, the storm was approximately 330km west-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, moving north-northeast at 10-20kph, the CWA reported. A sea warning had already been issued at 8:30am yesterday. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 83kph, with gusts of up to 108kph, according to the CWA. As of 9:30pm last night, Kaohsiung, Tainan,
POWERFUL DETERRENT: Precision fire and dispersed deployment of units would allow Taiwanese artillery to inflict heavy casualties in an invasion, a researcher said The nation’s military has boosted its self-defense capability with the establishment of a new company equipped with the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). The company, part of the army’s 58th Artillery Command, is Taiwan’s first HIMARS unit. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who presided over the formation ceremony in Taichung on Friday, called the unit a significant addition to the nation’s defensive strength, saying it would help deter adversaries from starting a war. The unit is made up of top-performing soldiers who received training in the US, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The HIMARS can be equipped with
STRONG WINDS: Without the Central Mountain Range as a shield, people should be ready for high-speed winds, CWA weather forecaster Liu Yu-chi said Danas was yesterday upgraded to a typhoon and could grow stronger as it moves closely along the nation’s west coastline, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Hsinchu and Chiayi cities, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Nantou, Chiayi, Penghu and Pingtung counties have canceled work and school today. Work and school in Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and Yilan, Taitung, Hualien, Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties would continue as usual, although offices and schools would be closed in Taoyuan’s Luju (蘆竹), Dayuan (大園), Guangyin (觀音) and Sinwu (新屋) districts. As of 5pm yesterday, the typhoon’s
UNILATERAL: The move from China’s aviation authority comes despite a previous 2015 agreement that any changes to flight paths would be done by consensus The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday slammed Beijing for arbitrarily opening the M503 flight route’s W121 connecting path, saying that such unilateral conduct disrespected the consensus between both sides and could destabilize the Taiwan Strait and the wider region. The condemnation came after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) earlier yesterday announced it “has activated the W121 connecting path of the M503 flight route,” meaning that west-to-east flights are now permitted along the path. The newly activated west-to-east route is intended to “alleviate the pressure caused by the increase of flights,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted China’s Taiwan Affairs Office