Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday attended a session organized by the National Immigration Agency (NIA) regarding comments denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty made by one of the Chinese students that his foundation had invited to visit Taiwan last year.
During an interview on Feb.1 last year, Song Siyao (宋思瑤), a student from Shanghai’s Fudan University, referred to Taiwan’s national baseball team as “China, Taipei” (中國台北隊) when congratulating them for winning the Premier12 championship.
She also said that “Taiwanese compatriots should continue to work for the motherland.”
“The term ‘China, Taipei’ is commonly used by people in China,” Ma told reporters before entering the NIA headquarters in Taipei.
“All Taiwanese would agree that Song did not have a malicious intent when making that comment, and that she was simply offering a sincere congratulation to our national baseball team for winning the championship. I believe that President William Lai (賴清德) would not fight over a trifling comment with a 20-year-old female student from China,” Ma said.
Ma also expressed the hope that the Lai administration would spare the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation from any administrative punishment or no group from the private sector would dare invite Chinese groups and individuals to visit Taiwan anymore. This would seriously impede cross-strait exchanges, which could hurt Taiwan, he said.
The Mainland Affairs Council at a news conference in Taipei last year said that it is planning to impose an administrative penalty on the foundation for Song’s comments, adding that the foundation could be banned from hosting cross-strait exchanges from six months to five years.
The foundation would be held accountable, not the student, the council said yesterday, adding that the penalty would be determined following an interagency meeting.
The Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the NIA, said that it has been following the Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法) when asking the foundation to provide an explanation regarding the case.
Other than submitting a written statement, the foundation requested to have someone from the foundation make a verbal explanation, the NIA said.
“Any cross-strait exchange should proceed based on mutual respect, and principles of equality and dignity. This would ensure that cross-strait exchanges would continue in a healthy and orderly manner. Actions and comments that denigrate Taiwan as a sovereign nation are prohibited. Both the Chinese and organizations that invite them should follow government regulations,” the ministry said.
Because of the controversy sparked by Song’s comment, students at National Taiwan University’s College of Social Sciences replaced the student council president surnamed Kuo (郭), who hosted the Chinese students invited by the foundation when they toured the campus.
