Vice President Annette Lu (
Lu reportedly upset many in her audience of more than 150 researchers after she delivered a talk focusing on the fifth anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong to Chinese rule instead of on academics.
Chen Wen-tsung (
During the opening ceremony of the annual meeting of the Academic Sinica, the country's leading research institute, Lu pointed with alarm to the "one country, two systems" model proposed by Beijing for Taiwan, in light of the dismal conditions it had created in Hong Kong after five years of Chinese rule.
Hong Kong residents have not been pleased since British colonial rule ended in 1997, she said, having watched their economy regress, their real estate drop in value and their unemployment rate skyrocket.
Some of those listening to her speech were reportedly unhappy with what they regarded as Lu's prejudiced viewpoints, and their discontentment intensified during the evening.
But, apparently not realizing the effect her speech was having on the audience, especially on the attendees from Hong Kong, Lu continued along the same vein.
Describing the world as "a zoo," the vice president said China was like a ferocious lion, while Taiwan was like Hello Kitty.
These remarks triggered an immediate outcry from the scholars.
Hsiang Wu-chung (
Nonetheless, the scholar said politics should not permeate into academia. He said Hu Shizhi (
Hsiang shouted "I protest" by the end of his speech, to the applause of the other scholars.
Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) tried to defend Lu, saying that the institute was an academic sanctuary where different opinions should be respected.
But some members considered it improper for Lu to comment on political issues at an academic gathering, with others disagreeing with Lu's criticism of the Chinese government.
They said it was unfair to put all the blame on China for Hong Kong's economic recession, just as it was unfair to blame the DPP for Taiwan's economic slowdown over the past two years.
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There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
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