Opposition lawmakers have alleged that the Chinese government has been conducting extensive campaigns to attract Taiwanese youth and students under the guise of cultural and academic exchanges, while the real purpose is political indoctrination and to influence election results.
They said the organization in question is known as the Association of Chinese Elite (ACE, 中華傑出青年交流促進會), which is affiliated with China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS).
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator (DPP) Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) on Thursday said the ACE tried to interfere with the nine-in-one elections last Saturday by asking member students to take photographs at polling booths in exchange for guarantees that they would be included in Beijing government-sponsored trips and visit programs to various cities in China.
“ACE has these programs for Taiwanese high school and university students to visit Beijing, Shanghai and other cities. The students participate in academic seminars and cultural exchanges where they are treated to banquets, luxurious events and lavished with gifts,” Tsai said.
“The students are also taken to visit Chinese government ministries, communist party political offices, China’s United Front Work Department and other political propaganda units,” he said. “So, after these indoctrinations and indulgent events, many of our impressionable youth changed their views about China and wanted to attain degrees in Chinese universities.”
Approved as a non-governmental organization in Taiwan in 2008, ACE has an office in Taipei whose stated mission is to conduct cultural and academic exchanges via trips to China. The organization says it has 500 members in more than 130 colleges and universities in Taiwan, and has sent more than 10,000 students on visit programs to China.
Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lai Cheng-chang (賴振昌) said Beijing is getting more sophisticated with its ‘“united front” (統戰) tactics, and has turned its political propaganda and indoctrination targets from Taiwanese business communities to students in recent years.
“The Ministry of Education believes that internationalization means linking up with China. This allows the Chinese government to use ACE and academic exchange programs as a front to recruit Taiwanese students for political purposes and to influence Taiwan’s elections,” Lai said.
ARATS released a statement yesterday denying the charges.
“The DPP legislator made false accusations. His rumor-mongering has vilified cross-strait youth exchange programs by ARATS and other Chinese agencies,” it said.
“This only exposes this particular DPP legislator’s stubborn opposition to cross-strait exchange, and it will not receive the support of the public,” it added.
ACE founder Feng Kuo-hua (馮國華) also released a statement yesterday, saying the organization is not engaged in propaganda and has no connection with the United Front Work Department.
Feng said that all exchange programs are focused on academic and cultural exchanges for young students, and he has never received instructions or demands from government officials to influence the direction of these programs.
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