The Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange has demanded an explanation from the European Association for Chinese Studies (EACS) over a page about the foundation being ripped from brochures at a recent event promoting Chinese study in Portugal, an executive said yesterday.
Founded in 1975, the Paris-based EACS is an international association representing European academics specializing in Chinese studies. It has more than 700 members.
A foundation official who wished to remain anonymous told the Taipei Times by telephone that the foundation sent a letter to the EACS yesterday to register its “unhappiness” over the incident that took place on Tuesday last week at the opening ceremony of the 20th conference of the EACS.
She said the foundation had not been aware of the incident until it was reported by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday.
According to the Liberty Times, at the request of Xu Lin (許琳), director-general of the Hanban, the common name of the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language at China’s Ministry of Education, page 59 of all brochures that gave information about the foundation was ripped out.
Xu has also served on China’s State Council.
All the brochures handed out to participants had the torn-out remnants of a page between page 58 and 61, with page 59 and 60 missing, the Liberty Times reported.
“We didn’t know about this until we saw the reports in the news because we did not send anyone to the conference,” the foundation official said.
She said it was the first time it had happened to the foundation during the many years it has worked with overseas institutions such as the EACS and the US-based Association of Asian Studies to promote Chinese studies as a sponsor.
This year, the foundation donated NT$650,000 to the event, she said.
“The EACS owes us an explanation. It not only hurt our foundation, but also the nation as a whole,” the foundation’s executive said.
The conference this year, titled “From the origins of Sinology to current interdisciplinary research approaches: Bridging the past and future of Chinese Studies,” was a biennial event hosted by the EACS from Tuesday to Saturday last week at Universidade do Minho and Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal.
On the sidelines of the event was an exhibition on Chinese academic studies that included more than 501 works in 561 volumes provided by the Center for Chinese Studies at the National Central Library and the foundation. The works were donated to Universidade do Minho on Friday.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) yesterday responded to reports by the Liberty Times that questioned the ministry’s inaction over the matter.
Representative to Portugal Her Jian-gueng (何建功) was not aware of the incident when it happened, but he lodged a protest with the EACS and the universities immediately after he learned about it, Kao said.
In a press release, the Mainland Affairs Council said it felt “deep regret about and disappointed” at the incident, adding that what China has done at the EACS conference has had a harmful effect on cross-strait relations.
The council urged China to show respect and take a pragmatic view of Taiwan’s participation in activities in the international community.
National Central Library director-general Tseng Shu-hsien (曾淑賢) yesterday said that EACS president Roger Greatrex had come to the exhibition site to apologize to the foundation after the incident.
After Chinese officials showed their displeasure at the page about the foundation in the brochure, staff from the Universidade do Minho tore it from all the brochures without taking the matter to the EACS first, Tseng said.
At the opening ceremony, several EACS officials had spoken out against the Chinese Hanban and the Universidade do Minho, Tseng said.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
RSS