A group of National Taiwan University (NTU) students yesterday said that they today would join students from institutions visited by a Chinese student delegation and launch a protest alliance.
The NTU students are to unite with students from other universities and high schools to refuse to accept these “fake exchanges” that push “united front” tactics, to safeguard free speech without censorship, and to demand that exchanges are built on equality and respect without compromising Taiwan’s sovereignty, the group said.
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 former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) foundation.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
One of the visiting students, Song Siyao (宋思瑤) of Shanghai’s Fudan University, on Sunday in an interview referred to the national baseball team, who won last month’s Premier12 championship, as “China, Taipei,” sparking public backlash which led to a student protest at NTU.
When the delegation visited NTU yesterday, they were met with a group of students shouting, “This is not China, Taipei” and holding banners declaring: “Democracy, human rights, freedom, we want equal and fair exchanges,” “Friends, democracy is a good thing,” and “Let’s discuss Taiwanese sovereignty, Hong Kong democracy and gender equality.”
The protesters also wore signs with the words “China, Taipei” crossed out.
The delegation was promptly escorted away from the protesting students.
Among the Chinese visitors are two Olympic gold medal winners, table tennis champion Ma Long (馬龍) and shooting champion Yang Qian (楊倩).
The group has already visited institutions such as National Chengchi University, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University and Chinese Culture University.
An NTU college of social science student surnamed Chi (齊) said the protest was held to share with the Chinese students the values that Taiwan holds dear, such as human rights, freedom and democracy.
Many NTU students care deeply about China’s social development, and hope to see an end to Chinese military drills around Taiwan, the liberation of Hong Kong pro-democracy advocates, an end to the ethnic cleansing in Tibet and Xinjiang, redress for the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989 and support for the complete democratization of China, Chi said.
Students particularly want to harness this opportunity to show Chinese students how Taiwanese view issues which are often censored in China, hoping they can share these ideas with friends and the government on their return, Chi added.
However, exchanges should be built on mutual respect and openness, and should not be an echo chamber in which Chinese students can say whatever they please, Chi said.
In response to the protest, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation chief executive Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said that “both sides of the Taiwan Strait have different wording and exchanges should be based on what unites us, not what divides us.”
He labeled the Democratic Progressive Party’s reaction to the delegation as “bullying.”
Song’s use of “China, Taipei” was not said with malice, as “she was celebrating Team Taiwan’s win in the championships,” he said.
"The Zhonghua Minguo Taiwan (中華民國台灣) used by former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and President William Lai (賴清德) is same as ’China Taiwan’ because Zhonghua Minguo (中華民國, the Republic of China) is Zhongguo (中國, China), " he added.
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