The Fanxing Project (繁星計畫) introduced by China’s Fudan University to attract young Taiwanese to intern at Chinese companies during the summer vacation is part of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “united front” tactics, a Taiwanese academic said.
The Shanghai branch of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) has commissioned the project with Fudan University, which aims to provide more than 200 positions for Taiwanese students across 100 universities, the TAO Web site said.
The Hubei University of Economics is also inviting Taiwanese aged 18 to 45 to join its “Cross-strait Youth Culture and Arts” event, pledging to cover room and board expenses.
Photo: Reuters
Asked for comment, Taiwan Association of University Professors board director Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said the CCP is stepping up its “united front” tactics toward young Taiwanese and strengthening its ties with local temples.
Many leading Chinese universities have also introduced preferential admittance regimes for Taiwanese students using scores from the General Scholastic Ability Test, which is an attempt to subvert young people’s Taiwanese identity, he said.
Many young people in Taiwan see Taiwan and China as separate countries, which has alerted the CCP that it must step up its “united front” tactics toward young Taiwanese, Chen said.
China understands that finding jobs and getting into good universities are high on Taiwanese students’ priority lists and has reacted accordingly, he added.
China’s program uses the same Chinese characters, fan hsing (繁星), as a Ministry of Education program, a ploy to mislead Taiwanese students.
Such tactics hope to make Taiwanese students “overlook” or “forget” that China is an enemy, and is based on a theory that once a student develops a good impression of China, they would not be against unification, he said.
The CCP has given up trying to change the mindset of middle-aged to elderly Democratic Progressive Party supporters and is increasingly focusing its efforts on young people, he added.
Having young people live in an environment where Taiwanese independence is heavily criticized would “brainwash” them, he said.
While not everyone would be brainwashed when studying or working in China, if half of those visiting are converted, Beijing’s “united front” tactics would be considered a success, he said, adding that this is a looming crisis that Taiwan would have to face.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS