After weeks of relatively tame university exchanges, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday answered cross-strait challenges posed by Chinese students in a lively debate.
Members of a 300-student audience at Shih Hsin University, about two-fifths of them from China on a study-abroad program, asked her respectful but skeptical questions about her party’s opposition to a broader opening to Chinese students.
“I support letting students learn in different places and having access to different experiences and cultures ... but there are practical considerations,” Tsai said when explaining why she favored limited student exchanges with China.
The considerations included a need to focus educational resources on Taiwanese students and keep the job market closed to cross-strait job seekers, she said, sidestepping a question on whether she planned to expand the exchanges if elected next year.
However, Tsai struggled to respond when a Chinese student pointed out to rousing applause that Chinese students were currently barred from entering the job market, unable to receive scholarships and other subsidies, but paid the same tuition fees as Taiwanese students.
On the other hand, the student said, China has opened up its borders to Taiwanese students and created “many beneficial conditions” to entice them to work and study across the strait.
“Other countries use foreign students and the funds they pay to help subsidize their own students,” said the student, who was not identified by name.
She said Tsai “did not seem too enthusiastic” about the issue, despite Tsai’s remarks to the contrary.
In response, Tsai asked what would happen if Taiwan and China’s roles were reversed.
“If Taiwan had the same population as China, or if we had more people and [China] less, would China still widely open up its [borders] to students from Taiwan?” Tsai asked, also to rousing applause.
While Tsai has spoken at universities nationwide as part of her presidential campaign, this is the first time she spoke to an audience almost half-filled with Chinese students, some of whom said they supported her.
One young audience member from China told Tsai that he was a long-time admirer.
“Hopefully my remarks don’t make it back across the Strait, but I’ve been a huge fan ever since I saw Tsai back on Chinese media,” said the student, adding that he saw no reason why Taiwan, “if it wanted to become a ‘normal’ country,” needed to be afraid of China. Instead, it should “open up its heart,” he said.
Despite having only 23 million people, Taiwan should have “enough confidence to deal with China,” the student added.
Tsai responded that: “It’s not fear, it’s only concern.”
“We are concerned that not everyone in China is like you, someone who uses reason and understanding to view Taiwan,” Tsai said. “Then there’s also the concern over the lack of a democratic process in China ... and the problem of the missiles China has aimed at Taiwan.”
Tsai was cautious when asked by a Taiwanese student about her cross-strait policy direction, sticking to her mantra that Taiwan and China needed to maintain a relationship that was “peaceful but different” and was “peaceful and seeking commonality.”
The saying was first used in February when Tsai announced an updated approach on how the DPP would handle relations with China in the future that would stress the two countries’ similarities in responsibilities and interests, but also historical, political and societal differences.
“We must acknowledge that those differences exist. However, we have to co-exist with China ... we must have a peaceful and stable relationship, and this is where our similarities are found,” the presidential candidate said.
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