TES chair’s pro-Beijing remarks stirs controversyTaipei European School (TES) chairman C.V. Chen (陳長文) has sparked controversy with his pro-unification stance and criticism of President William Lai (賴清德) declaring that China is a “foreign hostile force” in a commentary in the school’s yearbook.
Chen’s comments prompted complaints from some TES parents, who said it was inappropriate for Chen to air his personal political opinions in a school publication.
In the “A Message from Dr C.V. Chen” section titled “Taking the World’s Temperature,” published in Chinese and English, Chen wrote: “Taiwan has been seeing more military drills conducted by the [Chinese] People’s Liberation Army. The escalation came after President William Lai labeled ‘China’ a ‘foreign hostile force.’”
Photo: Kan Meng-lin, Taipei Times
“He has made his party’s central ideology ‘Taiwan independence’ Taiwan’s ideology, while neglecting his constitutional duty as the president to unify Taiwan and mainland China ... through promoting a ‘better system as a prerequisite for unification,’” he wrote.
“But what he should keep in mind is Taiwan and mainland China are of the same blood and share the same language, and there is still substantial economic interdependence between the two,” he wrote. “If given the choice, the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait would choose peace, not war.”
Chen cited as an example the European Coal and Steel Community, the precursor to the EU, which was formed in 1950 after World War II when leaders in West Germany and France “dared to dream that the two countries could pursue lasting peace together.”
If these two nations could let go of past conflicts and cooperate, “there is no reason Taiwan and the mainland cannot dream of a diverse yet unified integration,” Chen wrote.
One of the TES parents told reporters: “We have always known that Chen is very ‘blue’ in his political stance,” referring to the pro-China “pan-blue” political camp.
“However, it is too much for him to use our school’s publication to express his personal views. Many parents also felt very uncomfortable, with some even calling it ‘nauseating,’” the parent said.
Chen has infringed on at least three points, the parent added.
“First, it is not appropriate to use our school publication to criticize President Lai as ‘contravening his constitutional duty’; it is not the medium for him to do so. Second, Chen espoused ‘unification between Taiwan and China,’ but this is not the mainstream view in our society,” said the TES parent, who declined to be named.
“Third, it is outrageous for Chen to blame Taiwan for China’s increasing verbal and military intimidation of Taiwan,” the parent added. “Chen has violated the principle of education institutions being politically neutral.”
Asked about the complaints, Chen on Friday last week said: “I wrote for the school publication as chairman of the board, to give a commentary on national and worldwide affairs. What is wrong with that? I would like to know.”
Chen said he has written on many topics, including climate change, energy issues and the Russian war in Ukraine, adding that the Constitution guarantees citizens freedom of speech.
Taipei City Councilor Vincent Chao (趙怡翔) of the Democratic Progressive Party said: “It is not proper for any figure to air one’s personal political views in an official school publication, especially for the TES, because its students and members include members of the foreign diplomatic corps, the international business community, and families working for foreign media outlets.”
“It is highly inappropriate to use TES’ yearbook to promote one’s political stance and personal position on the cross-strait situation,” Chao added. “All schools are focused on education, and board members and officials should avoid using the campus or school publications as platforms for advocating their political stance.”
The Taipei Department of Education said that as the yearbook is an “internal publication,” it has told the school to conduct “an internal assessment and, if needed, provide an explanation to society at an appropriate time.”
A well-known lawyer who is the chairman of Lee and Li Attorneys-at-Law, Chen is a close adviser to former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
During the KMT administration, Chen served as secretary of the Straits Exchange Foundation and president of the Red Cross of the Republic of China.
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