Beijing is training Taiwanese at Minnan Normal University to assist its “united front” efforts in Taiwan, a China researcher said on Tuesday.
The school in Zhangzhou, in China’s Fujian Province, had already trained nearly 300 Taiwanese as of last month, National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) professor Hung Ching-fu (洪敬富) said.
Taiwanese graduating from the program would be expected to return to Taiwan as “pioneering seeds of China’s united front” efforts, he said, adding that the government should be on guard.
From September last year to last month, China held six semesters of the training program, he said, adding that it ramped up enrollment efforts this year to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Students in the program are required to pledge an oath of allegiance to the CCP, and must study Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) teachings on “socialism with Chinese characteristics in a new era,” he said.
“They are also taught about the CCP’s policies toward Taiwan and told they are to shoulder the responsibility of helping ‘the motherland unify peacefully,’” Hung said. “They are told this should be the greatest ambition of their lifetime.”
The CCP has also been trying to appeal to Taiwanese by offering educational programs in Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese), and by telling them that “people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family” and that “blood is thicker than water,” he said.
“The program emphasizes the similarities of Taiwan’s Hoklo culture with that of China’s Fujian Province, and teaches students that China’s economy can benefit Taiwan,” he said. “It also covers plans for implementing China’s ‘one country, two systems’ framework in Taiwan.”
The CCP hopes that if any of the graduates obtain influential roles in Taiwan, they can use that influence to advance China-friendly policies, he said.
“Basically the CCP is trying to use Taiwanese to annex Taiwan,” he said.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a
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