Chinese professor sanctioned for bullying Taiwanese student in Italy

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An Italian university has sanctioned a Chinese professor after video surfaced showing him trying to coerce a Taiwanese student into changing his city and country of origin on his research paper from "Taipei, Taiwan" to "Taipei, China."

On March 25, a Chinese adjunct professor Chen Zhen (陳蓁) from the Polytechnic University of Milan posted a video on Telegram showing him lecturing a Taiwanese student surnamed Wang (王) on how Taiwan is allegedly part of China during a video call. During the video, Chen claims that Wang has no legal right to refer to Taiwan as a country, but denies that he is bullying the student into changing the listing of his country of origin in his research paper.

Italy's il Giornale on Sunday (June 19) released an article titled "Teacher who bullied Taiwanese student sanctioned," in which it reported that the Polytechnic University of Milan's disciplinary board had activated its internal procedures aimed at verifying compliance with its code of ethics. According to the report, the university on Friday (June 17) had announced that it had found that Chen's behavior was "not appropriate and not in compliance with University Code of Ethics and Conduct."

According to the report, Senator Lucio Malan had called on the government to look into the matter. In addition, Gianni Vernetti, who obtained a PhD from the university and is a former Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs, called for the professor's suspension.

Out of a "respect for privacy," the university did not reveal the nature of the sanction imposed on Chen.

At @polimi sanctioned Chinese Professor who bullied Taiwanese student, stating, "Taiwan is only a region and not an independent nation". The Disciplinary Board considered "behavior not appropriate and not in compliance with University Code of Ethics and Conduct". #FreeTaiwan pic.twitter.com/Cd98BScPGU
— Massimiliano (@maslarussa) June 19, 2022