The Mainland Affairs Council and lawmakers yesterday accused a visiting Chinese university student of denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty by referring to the national baseball team that won a first-ever Premier12 title as “China, Taipei team” (中國台北隊).
“We deeply regret the Chinese student’s words, that have hurt the feelings of Taiwanese... The Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, as the organizers, should remind group members not to use inappropriate words and behavior,” a council statement said.
“We hope these young Chinese can accurately observe the true views of Taiwanese, which would be a positive development for interactions between young people on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait,” it said.
Photo: Hsu Kuo-chen, Taipei Times
A group of 40 Chinese university students and faculty members arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday last week for a nine-day trip at the invitation of the foundation established by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
When touring the baseball stadium in Taichung on Sunday, one of the students, Song Siyao (宋思瑤) from Shanghai’s Fudan University, was interviewed by reporters and asked her thoughts on Taiwan winning the Premier12 baseball competition.
“We want to congratulate the China, Taipei team,” she said. “We wish mainland China and Taiwan compatriots [台灣同胞] can be like the team Chinatrust Brothers and work together for the motherland [祖國] to take baseball to a higher level.”
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) denounced the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, saying it organized the visit on the pretext of academic exchanges and interactions between students, when in reality it is engaging in Chinese political propaganda by using “united front” rhetoric.
“If they are engaging in proper and healthy interactions here, why would the Chinese student talk about the ‘China, Taipei team’ and hurting the public’s feelings,” Wu said. “When they are here, they can enjoy Taiwan’s democratic system, academic freedoms and a society full of diversity. We hope they can take those perspectives back to China.”
Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎), director of Taiwan Forever Society, also criticized the student.
“The Chinese students are forceful in barging their way into Taiwan and belittling our national baseball team as the ‘China, Taipei team.’ This is ‘united front’ rhetoric aimed at denying Taiwan’s status and disparaging Taiwanese baseball,” he said.
“Ma owes an apology to all Taiwanese baseball fans... He has created this stage for Chinese students to attack Team Taiwan and he is the mastermind behind this controversy, while we the taxpayers are still paying for his pension and for his protection as a former president,” he added.
The incident also sparked a furor online, with Taiwanese posting angry messages on baseball and sports Web sites.
“Our baseball winners are Team Taiwan, we don’t know who ‘China, Taipei team’ are,” one user wrote.
“This female student has nice smile and talks sweetly, but her words are nauseating,” another wrote.
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