Taiwanese university and high school students are protesting an exchange visit by a group from China, calling their activities "fake" and saying they are part of China's "united front" tactics intended to undermine Taiwan's sovereignty.
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00:00Inside Taiwan's legislature, university and high school students are speaking out against
00:08the Chinese delegation currently in the country.
00:11The group of students and athletes was invited by former President Ma Ying-jeou's foundation,
00:16an effort it says is to foster cross-strait communication and exchanges.
00:20But students here say these exchanges are fake and that there didn't seem to be a desire
00:24for real communication.
00:26They say when the delegation came to their universities, they were kept in the dark about it.
00:30That happened at NTU, but as a student from NTU, we have no open information, we have
00:35no way to know when and where it's going to happen.
00:39The local students say they wanted to speak with the group about democracy and human rights
00:43issues in China.
00:57The students accuse the Chinese delegation of being part of Beijing's attempts to undermine
01:01Taiwan's sovereignty, as Taiwan's Chinese Affairs Office says almost all of the Chinese
01:06students are affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party.
01:09Some Taiwanese legislators have also raised concerns, as have some local groups, who accuse
01:14the students of being used as united front tools.
01:17Also sparking backlash is a comment from a Chinese student in the delegation referring
01:22to Taiwan's national baseball team as China Taipei instead of its official name, Chinese Taipei.
01:28The foundation's CEO has dismissed concerns about the delegation's CCP ties and has stressed
01:33the importance of the exchanges to maintaining peace across the strait.
01:37But some say they likely won't have any immediate impact, even if they do create some communication
01:42between the two sides.
01:44These exchanges might introduce some mutual understanding among the participants involved.
01:50They might communicate it to other people.
01:52However, I don't think that at least at this stage it really matters because none of these
01:57students are yet in positions of power.
02:00Maybe it'll matter in 20 or 30 years, but at this point, I think it's largely irrelevant.
02:07The delegation still has a little more time in Taiwan, and many around the country are
02:11keeping a close eye on the group's movements.
02:14Justin Wu, Jeremy Olivier, and Keynes Cuaranta for Taiwan Plus.