The government is to pursue administrative action against the foundation of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for a comment by a member of a Chinese student delegation congratulating the “China, Taipei” team on winning an international baseball championship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday.
While in Taiwan on an exchange organized by the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, a student from China’s Fudan University on Sunday said the tour group “would like to congratulate the China, Taipei team on their win” last month in the Premier12 baseball championship match in Tokyo.
Lawmakers at a meeting of the Internal Administration Committee yesterday asked Chiu whether the comments breached rules set for Chinese visitors to Taiwan.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
The comments that “hurt the feelings of Taiwanese and belittled Taiwan are unacceptable to the public,” Chiu said.
They likely contravened the Regulations on Permission for Entrance of People of the Mainland Area Into the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民進入臺灣地區許可辦法), he said.
The foundation also appears not to have complied with an agreement it signed when it asked for permission to host the group, which prohibits any political speech or propaganda, he added.
The council would pursue administrative sanctions after the group returns to China, Chiu said.
The student could face stricter assessments if they apply to visit Taiwan again and be barred from entry for one to five years, Chiu said.
The foundation could be restricted from inviting other groups for six months to five years, depending on the severity of the case, he added.
The delegation yesterday morning visited National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Hsinchu City, where they faced a large group of protesters waving Taiwanese flags and banners declaring “no freedom, no exchange.”
The protesters called for “equal exchanges under the premise of democracy.”
At the same time, fans of delegation member Ma Long (馬龍), a table tennis star, asked him to sign their paddles and take photographs with the Olympic gold medalist.
The delegation visited the Tsing Hua Hall of Fame at 10am.
“Cross-strait exchanges are only natural, but China should stop putting pressure on Taiwan,” NTHU honorary chair professor Ogasawara Yoshiyuki, who greeted the delegation, told reporters.
Separately, an alliance of students from universities and high schools, including National Taiwan University (NTU), held a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei to protest what they called a “fake cross-strait exchange, real ‘united front’ work” against Taiwan.
Protests at NTU a day earlier were an attempt to exchange ideas with the Chinese students and share Taiwan’s values of democracy, freedom and human rights, but regretfully the delegation fled, showing that they have no interest in entertaining a sincere exchange, said Huang Chung-hsien (黃種賢), a graduate student of sociology at NTU.
The delegation includes members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Communist Youth League of China, undermining Taiwanese sovereignty and not up to the standards the alliance is willing to accept, Huang said.
Future exchanges should be conducted after an assessment of delegations’ members and their motivations to ensure that students can freely and openly communicate with them, said Li Cheng-ai (李承璦), a student at Taipei Municipal Zhongshan Girls High School.
Later at the legislature, Taiwan Society chairman Weng Ming-jang (翁銘章) held a separate news conference with North Taiwan Society vice chairman Lo Chun-hsuan (羅浚晅), former Taiwan Society chairman Li Chuan-hsin (李川信) and Union of Taiwanese Teachers vice president Pan Wei-you (潘威佑).
Ma Ying-jeou was sympathizing with the CCP and inviting party members to Taiwan to “take advantage of Taiwanese,” Weng said.
The use of the misnomer “China, Taipei” to describe the Premier12-winning national baseball team highlights the importance of a name, he said, adding that Taiwanese teams ought to use the nation’s name domestically and internationally.
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