The Ministry of Education yesterday said it has reached a preliminary conclusion that Tamkang University Department of Business Administration head Chang Yong-sheng (張雍昇) contravened regulations by calling China “the motherland."
A video on the YouTube channel “Taiwan.cn” showed Chang, while leading a group of students to China for a visit, being interviewed by Chinese media where he said that he was visiting “the motherland” for mutual interaction.
The ministry’s Department of International and Cross-strait Education Acting Director-General Liao Kao-hsien (廖高賢) yesterday said that school faculty visiting China for education-related activities should not visit for political purposes or allow political incidents to occur.
Photo: Screengrab from Taiwan.cn’s YouTube channel
Cross-strait education interactions should respect the dignity of both sides and should be conducted in a healthy and orderly manner, she said.
The ministry said it would consider Chang’s action an administrative oversight on behalf of the university and that it would penalize the school by reducing subsidies or the number of students the school is allowed to recruit.
Chang said he had introduced himself as a member of the university, but had been influenced by the Chinese reporters as their question used the phrase, “motherland.”
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