Forty-four Taiwanese universities abide by the government’s current cross-strait policy, which says that schools should not sign a One-China Policy agreement. That was the word from Education Minister Pan Wen-chung, who was speaking at the legislature on Monday.
The One-China Policy says that there is only one sovereign state representing China. Beijing uses what it calls a “One-China Principle” to claim Taiwan as part of Chinese territory.
Three years ago, 72 public and private universities in Taiwan were revealed to have signed agreements that they would abide by the One-China Policy. They faced criticism from both the government and civic groups.
DPP Legislator Huang Kuo-shu said Monday that over 20,000 students from China studied in Taiwan in 2018 and 2019. He asked the education minister if it was possible that universities were secretly signing pacts with China, while submitting a different set of documents to the education ministry.
Pan said that educational exchanges with China are operated under the pretense that academic institutions will maintain free and democractic ideals. He says that the education ministry is working with the government’s Mainland Affairs Council to ensure that schools are up to standard.
The Mainland Affairs Council is Taiwan’s top China policymaking body.