Taiwanese Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao announced on Thursday that the island’s universities will no longer be allowed to collaborate with three Chinese institutions because they are affiliated with the United Front Work Department, the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda bureau.
“Chinese universities affiliated with the United Front Work Department serve a political purpose rather than a purely academic one,” Cheng said when announcing the ban. “To prevent political influence operations we must halt cooperation and exchanges.”
The three Chinese institutions on the blacklist are Jinan University in Guangzhou, Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, and the Beijing Chinese Language and Culture College. The three universities have about 2,000 Taiwanese students enrolled. China attracted these students by making it easy for them to enroll and obtain tuition…
