Using pandas to further the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “united front” rhetoric would have limited effect, a government source said yesterday, after a top Chinese official last week urged 39 Taiwanese students visiting Sichuan Province to oppose Taiwanese independence.
Undergraduate and master’s students aged 35 or under who would be applying for their first-ever “Taiwan compatriot permit” were eligible for the eight-day camp, which ran from Monday last week to Monday, according to the Web site of the Taiwan Development Institute, which handled recruitment for the trip.
Camp participants would be hosted by the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), which arranged the itinerary, which included a visit to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Chengdu Radio & Television Co’s headquarters and scenic sites, the Web site said.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Development Institute
The ARATS said each participant was expected to pay NT$22,000 for airfares, other travel expenses, accommodation and other costs.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Deputy Director Wu Xi (吳璽) said at the camp’s opening ceremony last week that participants from either side of the Taiwan Strait should interact, work together to promote what is good for the Chinese people, advocate the spread of Chinese culture and steadfastly oppose Taiwanese independence.
In Taipei, a government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, warned about such events.
Regardless of the nature of an event organized by the CCP — even if it is ostensibly about pandas — the core theme is always the same: to promote unification and oppose Taiwanese independence, the official said.
ARATS and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office branches in Chinese provinces have never given up attempting to influence young Taiwanese with their “united front” rhetoric, but the actual effects are limited, the source said.
None of the Taiwanese professors who have worked in China over the past few years have achieved academic success, the official said, adding that the many Taiwanese youth entrepreneurial start-up pilot zones in China have become little more than ghost towns due to the declining economic performance across the Strait.
Any opportunity provided for Taiwanese is snatched from locals, which only breeds discontent among Chinese, the official said, adding that there is little opportunity to find a job or start a business in China.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS