The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday downplayed the last-minute absence of two Chinese academics at a cross-strait symposium funded by the council, urging the public to calmly view the incident.
The two absent Chinese academics are Sheng Jiuyuan (盛九元), dean of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences’ Taiwan Research Center, and Zhu Lei (朱磊), professor at Nankai University’s Taiwan economic research institute.
They were scheduled to speak at two different panels at the forum in Taipei, titled “Symposium on Cross-Strait Economic and Trade Ties: Past, Present and Future.”
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The symposium was organized by the Commerce Development Research Institute at the behest of the MAC to explore the past, present and future of cross-strait economic exchanges.
“Many academics and specialists attended today’s international symposium. The organizer notified us that the two Chinese academics were on their way to the venue, but the two later said they ‘were told that they could not attend,’” MAC Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said.
Chiu said the council was not given further details, but added that it would treat the incident with “respect, understanding and calmly.”
“The MAC will continue to welcome Chinese academics to come to Taiwan to engage in academic exchanges,” he said.
MAC Minister Katharine Chang (張小月), who delivered a speech at the symposium, adopted a similar tone, saying the government would continue to encourage mutual visits by academics on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Asked to comment on statistics compiled by the council showing that the number of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan this year dropped 33 percent compared with same period last year, Chang said she welcomes Beijing letting more of its people travel freely to Taiwan.
“People-to-people interaction is the most natural type of exchanges, which helps reinforce friendship and understanding of each other,” Chang said.
The Chinese academics’ absence came just two days after news emerged that the Chinese Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Education last month published a regulation requiring Taiwanese students applying for state scholarships in China to acknowledge the “one China” principle.
Chang at the time urged Beijing to refrain from setting preconditions on cross-strait cultural and academic exchanges.
Beijing has restricted Chinese tourists and students to Taiwan, suspended official communications and stepped up suppression of Taiwan in the international arena, as punitive measures against President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) refusal to acknowledge the so-called “1992 consensus.”
The “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Beijing that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Former MAC chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up the term in 2000.
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