The foundation set up by Taiwan's former president that invited a group of Chinese students to Taiwan for cultural exchanges could be banned from inviting similar delegations for some time after a remark by one member of the group currently visiting led to a public outcry. That's according to Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Former President Ma Ying-jeou's foundation is defending itself after Taiwan's Chinese Affairs Office
00:05said it could be banned from bringing Chinese delegations to Taiwan for months or even years.
00:10This comes after the foundation invited 40 Chinese students, teachers, and athletes on a trip to Taiwan,
00:15which they say was to promote cross-strait communication.
00:18But while they were here, one of the students called Taiwan's national baseball team China Taipei,
00:23which sparked backlash in Taiwan because it denies China's claims that it's part of the mainland.
00:29Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said the comment may have violated government rules
00:33and accused the foundation of not handling it properly.
00:36The whole trip also faced criticism because almost all the students are affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party.
00:42But today, the foundation's CEO and several KMT legislators argued that this comment
00:46actually illustrates the need for more cross-strait communication,
00:49because they said that the student might not have even known that his comment could be hurtful to Taiwanese people
00:54and that if these kinds of exchanges aren't allowed, cross-strait relations could get even worse.
00:59But the trip's effectiveness in promoting communication has also been controversial,
01:03with some of the students at the universities where the delegation visited telling me
01:07it didn't seem like the delegation was even interested in real communication.
01:11The Mainland Affairs Council says it will soon convene other government agencies
01:15to decide whether to punish the foundation over the China Taipei comment,
01:18which could include a ban on bringing Chinese delegations to Taiwan
01:22for anywhere from six months to five years.
01:25Yixin Chen, and Caden Scoranta, for Taiwan Plus.