TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwanese colleges should not have contact with seven Chinese institutions with military links to protect key technology, the Ministry of Education said Friday.

On Feb. 20, the ministry blacklisted two universities and one college in China from exchanges due to their affiliation with Beijing’s United Front Work Department. Education Minister Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said the latest ban was designed to prevent Taiwan’s defense and technology secrets from being leaked to China, per CNA.

The new list included the Beijing Institute of Technology, Beihang University, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Harbin Institute of Technology, and Harbin Engineering University. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology supervises the seven schools.

While those colleges had a positive reputation, it was better for Taiwanese universities to reduce their contacts with the seven schools, Cheng told the Liberty Times. Graduates from Taiwan continuing their studies in China will sometimes make the wrong choices because of a lack of accurate information, he said. 

In the future, the ministry will collect and publicize more background facts about Chinese universities so parents and students can make a more informed choice.

The ministry also said that institutions in Taiwan planning to cooperate with Chinese institutions run by China's CCP, government, and military needed to ask permission from the authorities. In practice, that means it is better not to engage in contacts, according to the ministry.