The Ministry of Education is considering allowing Chinese students living in third regions to study in Taiwan, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said today.
During a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee to review the ministry’s budget, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) said the ministry has not taken any actions with regards to the issue and proposed eliminating NT$755,000 (US$23,060) allocated for travel expenses related to China.
The travel expenses also lacked detailed explanations, Lo said, adding that if the budget is not entirely removed, it could also be frozen.
Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
If cross-strait relations improve enough to enable future visits, the funds could be used, but the budget proposal was insufficiently detailed, KMT Legislator Wan Mei-ling (萬美玲) said.
KMT Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) asked if the ministry had utilized the funds in the past two or three years, saying that if it had, the funds should be frozen rather than removed.
To maintain goodwill and allow for future cross-strait exchanges, the funds should be fully frozen rather than eliminated, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) said.
The funds could also be frozen to provide the ministry flexibility in promoting related initiatives, DPP Legislator Chen Pei-yu (陳培瑜) said.
Relations and negotiating counterparts can vary depending on the situation and are sometimes uncertain, the ministry said, asking legislators to allow it to maintain flexibility.
The ministry is already considering measures to allow Chinese students from third regions to study in Taiwan, Cheng said.
The budget also includes recruiting students from Hong Kong and Macau, Deputy Minister of Education Lin Teng-chiao (林騰蛟) said.
Instead of removing the full amount, NT$250,000 could be frozen, Lin added.
The committee decided to freeze NT$250,000 of the travel budget for China, to be released only after the ministry submits a written report.
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