The Taipei City Government has not yet submitted a list of Chinese officials who are to attend the Taipei-Shanghai Twin City Forum in Taipei this year for review, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said at a news conference in Taipei yesterday, adding that those with a record of human rights abuses or religious persecution would not be allowed to enter the country.
The annual event is to take place in the middle of next month.
“So far, the Taipei City Government has yet to officially file an application” for Chinese officials who are to attend, MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told reporters.
Photo: CNA
“We do not know which official is to lead the delegation and neither does the Taipei City Government. We have no way to start the review now,” he said.
Chinese officials who have records of human rights abuses and oppressing religious groups would not be allowed to enter the country, he added.
Last year, the council denied entry to a former Chinese National Religious Affairs Administration official with a record of persecuting members of Falun Gong, he said.
Asked about expected Chinese military exercises using President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visit to South Pacific allies as a pretext, Liang said the council would take that factor into consideration.
Good cross-strait exchanges are only possible if they proceed with goodwill, he said.
“The state visit is extremely normal to us, but China has different thoughts. We will closely monitor Chinese government responses to this matter,” Liang said.
About the group of Chinese students and young people who arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, Liang reiterated the council’s position that young people from China should be allowed to visit Taiwan freely.
However, the delegation might get a limited understanding of Taiwanese culture and society during such a short trip, Liang said.
“It is our belief that they would have a genuine experience of Taiwan if they are allowed to freely interact with Taiwanese students without any political conditions,” he said.
Beijing has suspended its policy of allowing Chinese students to study in Taiwan since April 2020, even though Taiwan showed goodwill last year by extending National Health Insurance coverage to include Chinese students, Liang said.
“We still urge the Chinese government to allow young people to study in Taiwan of their own will. They should be allowed to experience what it is really like to live in Taiwan. Student exchanges should be genuine without being part of ‘united front’ work,” he said.
Students in the group were apparently carefully selected by Beijing, Liang said.
Under normal circumstances, students should come from all kinds of backgrounds, he added.
A normal situation would be that the students can freely study in any country they see fit without restrictions from the government, such as Taiwanese students studying in China, Liang said.
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