Taipei, Mar 1: Taiwan has sanctioned seven universities, dubbed the “seven sons of China’s national defence,” that pose a security threat to the nation, according to local media. The Ministry of Education Taiwan stated that these universities were founded by the Chinese Ministry of National Defense before they were transferred to the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, reports the country’s leading daily, Taipei Times.
Taiwan’s Minister of Education, Cheng Ying-Yao, on Friday, said, “Taiwanese universities and research institutions are forbidden from engaging in any academic activities or exchanges with seven Chinese universities to protect technology critical to national security interests.”
He further stated that the listed universities are heavily involved in developing Chinese arms, equipment, aviation, telecommunications, chemicals, and material sciences. It serves the interests of the Chinese Army and the Chinese Communist Party’s “united front” work.
The Universities in Taiwan are banned from engaging in exchanges with these seven universities. The ban had been imposed as such exchanges “could potentially involve many key Taiwanese technologies being inadvertently stolen,” the minister further added.
A Taiwanese researcher, on the condition of anonymity, said that he had interacted with many faculty members from the “seven sons” and had been approached by a professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology who hinted at illegal activities.
During an event in February, President William Lai said that democracy and academic independence in the country are invaluable and universities should be cautious about exchanges with China. Earlier, Taiwan had blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programmes in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department. China’s growing influence has been a security concern for Taiwan.
Taiwan alleged that the Chinese Communist Party uses its “United Front” strategy to gather intelligence and influence public decisions within the country. As per a report in the Taipei Times, since 2020, Beijing has used education policies to attract Taiwanese to China, including the new unified online admissions system.
IANS