Taiwanese Students Object to Chinese Delegation's Visit

TaiwanPlus News

Taiwanese university and high school students are protesting an exchange visit by a group from China, calling their activities "fake" and saying they are part of China's "united front" tactics intended to undermine Taiwan's sovereignty.

Transcript

00:00Inside Taiwan's legislature, university and high school students are speaking out against

00:08the Chinese delegation currently in the country.

00:11The group of students and athletes was invited by former President Ma Ying-jeou's foundation,

00:16an effort it says is to foster cross-strait communication and exchanges.

00:20But students here say these exchanges are fake and that there didn't seem to be a desire

00:24for real communication.

00:26They say when the delegation came to their universities, they were kept in the dark about it.

00:30That happened at NTU, but as a student from NTU, we have no open information, we have

00:35no way to know when and where it's going to happen.

00:39The local students say they wanted to speak with the group about democracy and human rights

00:43issues in China.

00:57The students accuse the Chinese delegation of being part of Beijing's attempts to undermine

01:01Taiwan's sovereignty, as Taiwan's Chinese Affairs Office says almost all of the Chinese

01:06students are affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party.

01:09Some Taiwanese legislators have also raised concerns, as have some local groups, who accuse

01:14the students of being used as united front tools.

01:17Also sparking backlash is a comment from a Chinese student in the delegation referring

01:22to Taiwan's national baseball team as China Taipei instead of its official name, Chinese Taipei.

01:28The foundation's CEO has dismissed concerns about the delegation's CCP ties and has stressed

01:33the importance of the exchanges to maintaining peace across the strait.

01:37But some say they likely won't have any immediate impact, even if they do create some communication

01:42between the two sides.

01:44These exchanges might introduce some mutual understanding among the participants involved.

01:50They might communicate it to other people.

01:52However, I don't think that at least at this stage it really matters because none of these

01:57students are yet in positions of power.

02:00Maybe it'll matter in 20 or 30 years, but at this point, I think it's largely irrelevant.

02:07The delegation still has a little more time in Taiwan, and many around the country are

02:11keeping a close eye on the group's movements.

02:14Justin Wu, Jeremy Olivier, and Keynes Cuaranta for Taiwan Plus.

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