TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — National Tsing Hua University students waved Taiwan flags and banners supporting democracy when a delegation of Chinese students visited the campus on Wednesday (Dec. 4).
Last week, the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) Foundation brought 40 teachers and students from seven Chinese universities, for a nine-day tour of Taiwan. However, female Fudan University student Song Siyao (宋思瑤) on Sunday congratulated the "China, Taipei team” on winning the WBSC Premier12 championship, causing a public uproar, per UDN.
When touring National Taiwan University on Tuesday, the Chinese delegation was met with student protestors chanting, “This is not Chinese Taipei.” They also held placards with slogans such as: “National Taiwan University students love freedom,” “Democratize,” and “Redress the Tiananmen Square incident.”
On Wednesday morning, the delegation was taken to the NTHU campus in Hsinchu. However, neither the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) Foundation nor the university released details of the visit to the public in advance, per Liberty Times.
Nevertheless, NTHU students managed to organize a protest and formed a 150-meter-long line of participants waving Taiwan independence banners and national flags, per NOWnews.
Students demanded Ma Ying-jeou Foundation CEO Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) hold a Taiwan flag but he refused claiming the activity was still in progress and he would come back to communicate with the students after the event, per TVBS.
Students said they were not opposed to exchanges with China, but they hope such interactions can be done in an open and equal setting, rather than in a secretive manner. One student told TVBS, “This kind of approach on the surface appears to be an exchange with Taiwanese, but in reality, it is united front behavior.”
Before a Legislative Yuan session on Wednesday, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) expressed regret that social unrest caused by the group's political statements and propaganda may have diminished Taiwan, per UDN.
