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Chinese writer ‘appalled’ by reeducation remark over Taiwan

Chang Ping says Chinese ambassador’s words raise specter of Nazi Germany

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(Pixabay image)

(Pixabay image)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Chinese writer and human rights activist Chang Ping (長平) said the recent talk about “reeducating Taiwanese” by China's Ambassador to France Lu Shaye (盧沙野) has sent chills down his spine.

In an opinion piece for DW, the Germany-based commentator wrote that the use of “reeducation” was hair-raising because it evoked the specter of Nazi Germany, Stalin’s rule of the Soviet Union, and China under the reign of Mao Zedong (毛澤東). The most recent example is the well-known “reeducation camps” imposed on Xinjiang, he added.

Lu did not seem to consider the term a negative expression, according to Chang Ping, who said Lu was implying that the Democratic Progressive Party has itself mounted a similar campaign against China over the years.

The Chinese Communist Party has been equating brainwashing to education unabashedly, he noted, citing the example of Hong Kong in 2012. Hao Tiechuan (郝鐵川), the then official overseeing the introduction of a new curriculum to indoctrinate the city’s next generation, infamously dismissed criticisms by suggesting that “Necessary brainwashing is an international norm also seen in Western countries.”

Chang Ping believes that if Taiwan were to be “united” with China, reeducation could take the form of new school curriculums, control of the press, and censorship of freedom of speech. All this could be achieved through violence and fear.