Taiwan-based colleges and universities are not permitted to engage in activities with Chinese individuals, groups or agencies outside the confines of the law, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) said on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Education has warned tertiary institutions that any exchanges with China that are non-academic are unlawful, Pan told a legislative hearing in Taipei, citing the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例).
The ministry has sent a notice to all colleges and universities in Taiwan, informing them that “any cooperation with China’s political parties, government or military agencies is unlawful,” Pan said, adding that an investigation into such contacts would be launched.
Pan was responding to questions from legislators after the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) on Monday reported that the Cross-Strait Tsinghua
Research Institute (清華海峽研究院) had established an office at National Tsing Hua University’s (NTHU) main campus in Hsinchu City without securing approval from the government.
In its notice, the ministry said that all cross-strait educational exchanges must be made in compliance with the law, including the employment of teaching personnel, to prevent any recurrence of such activities.
Academic exchanges “between the two sides must be held on an ‘equal and mutually-beneficial’ basis,” the notice said. “All on-campus activities, including the use of facilities and rented spaces, must be in line with Article 33-1 of the act.”
Without government approval, universities are not allowed to engage in cooperation with individuals; institutions; political, military or administrative agencies in China; or any political propaganda groups in that country, the ministry said.
Extralegal exchanges might compromise Taiwan’s interests and national security, the ministry added.
On Monday, the institute office at NTHU was ordered to close and its personnel sent to China.
The institute was founded in Xiamen, China, in 2015 by NTHU’s alumni association, Beijing-based Tsinghua University and the Xiamen City Government.
In a statement on Monday, NTHU said that the institute was partly founded by several NTHU alumni, but has no direct relationship with the university itself.
The institute rented an office on NTHU’s campus via the Tze-Chiang Foundation of Science and Technology, an organization founded by NTHU alumni, the university said.
On Tuesday, NTHU reiterated that it was not involved in the operations of the institute, after then-NTHU president Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) was found to have attended the institute’s opening ceremony in April 2016.
The university said that Wu did attend the event, but was not part of the institute’s operations.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
RSS