The Executive Yuan yesterday denied that an online registration platform for students visiting China is “green terror,” saying that academic exchanges with China require special monitoring.
The Ministry of Education on Wednesday unveiled the Registration Platform for Academic Exchanges in China, which is to take effect Sunday and apply to cross-strait exchanges at all education levels.
The registration Web site, which previously asked users at which Chinese school they planned to pursue a degree, now has an “exchanges” icon and requests users to log in and fill in details about their cross-strait plans.
The ministry said that a school sending students on an official exchange to China must log onto the platform and notify the ministry of the trip one month prior, and then provide the ministry with a report on the trip in the month that they return.
The ministry said that it has provided many schools with a cross-strait academic exchange checklist, which prompts them to check whether students were exposed to political activities, job recruiters or entrepreneurship campaigns, and ensure that any participation in Chinese internships complies with Taiwanese laws.
The Chinese-language China Times on Wednesday said that the platform was “green terror” manufactured by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), referring to the party’s affiliation with the pan-green camp.
Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka dismissed the criticism, adding that the policy is certainly not aimed at promoting “green terror.”
Education directly influences young people, so cross-strait academic exchanges require special attention, she said, adding that the Ministry of Education would soon provide more details on the platform.
The Executive Yuan would support any directive as long as it falls within the parameters of existing laws, such as the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), she added.
The platform was created after DPP Legislator Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) told a question-and-answer session with Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) at the Legislative Yuan last month that there had been several incidents in which students from 40 Taiwanese high schools unwittingly fell prey to China’s “united front” tactics.
The students were told that they were attending a science camp organized by the Chinese Ministry of Education at Peking University, but later found themselves participating in celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Su Chiao-hui said.
At that time, she suggested establishing the platform to pre-empt events that might expose students to China’s “united front” tactics.
Su Tseng-chang accepted the suggestion and instructed the ministry to create the platform.
Additional reporting by Wu Po-hsuan
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