The National Immigration Agency (NIA) has suspended six universities for six months from inviting Chinese academics and students over violations of regulations concerning Chinese academic visits, raising concerns in academic circles on the prospects of cross-strait university exchanges.
National Taiwan University (NTU) and National Chengchi University (NCCU) are on the agency’s list of suspended institutions, the agency said.
To regulate Chinese visitors, the agency specifies that host universities must submit in advance visitors’ itineraries — including their period of stay and their travel plans — for the agency’s approval.
If approved, visitors have to adhere to their submitted schedule, with any alterations to be reported to the agency, the agency said, adding that violations could result in the host universities being suspended from requesting Chinese academic visits for a period of between six months and three years.
NTU averages 1,460 cross-strait academic visits annually, NTU secretary-general Lin Ta-te (林達德) said, adding that NTU had facilitated about 3,550 visits in the past 18 months, with only 13 violations, involving about 100 people — amounting to a violation rate of less than 1 percent — with most violations being “overstays” or “unreported alterations to itineraries.”
This means that departments not in violation of the rules are also suspended, hurting cross-strait academic exchanges, Lin said.
“There is nothing wrong with the regulations, but the way they are implemented is important,” he said.
The agency’s implementation is not flexible or transparent, as overstays or alterations due to unavoidable or unintentional circumstances are classified as violations, he said, citing an example in which visitors’ flights were delayed due to a typhoon.
NTU would appeal the agency’s decision tomorrow, Lin said, adding that its academic exchange program would not be affected, as an NTU foundation would take over the visit applications.
NCCU said it had filed an appeal and would not make further comment.
Each year, 60,000 Chinese visitors come to Taiwan on academic visas, Ministry of Education Senior Executive Officer Liu Chih-min (劉智敏) said, adding that the ministry respected the agency’s position regarding national security.
Chinese visitors can be deported for overstaying their visa and restricted from re-entering for up to 10 years, while host universities face a suspension of between six to 36 months for violating regulations, according to the Act Governing the Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) and the Entry Permission to Taiwan Area for the People from Mainland China (大陸地區人民進入台灣許可辦法), agency division head Hsu Chien-lin (徐健麟) said.
The agency is aiming to amend the regulations to allow more flexible implementation, he said.
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