Contest Organized by MAC Links Essay Submissions to Chinese Communist Party
Rewritten Article:
Controversy brews over an essay competition seemingly flouting Taiwan's laws:
A collaborative essay contest between a local writing group and a publisher with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) may have sidestepped the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, as suggested by Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC).
"In this case, the partner organization is evidently an agency under the CCP's Fujian Provincial Committee," MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) remarked at a press briefing in Taipei.
"It also involves offering Taiwanese students all-expenses-paid experiences to attend prize ceremonies and workshops in China," Liang added.
Image Source: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
These two "features" frequently constitute a "cooperative activity" under Article 33-1 of the act, which prohibits collaborations with organizations of "any political nature," according to Liang.
His comments followed the MAC's announcement on Monday, stating that the Ministry of Education will probe whether the contest, titled "Reading Together – A Shared Book Experience," violated the act.
Organized jointly by the Taipei-based Republic of China Zhang Fa Society and the Straits Publishing and Distributing Group — a CCP-controlled entity — the contest is described on the Zhang Fa Society's website as a cross-strait book reading and writing exchange program.
This event aims to foster cultural exchange and emotional connections among Taiwanese educators and students by introducing recommended books, encouraging essay submissions for a chance at one of approximately 100 awards—a prize pool totaling NT$200,000, with the top prize worth NT$6,000.
Students who submit essays are also eligible to partake in a study tour in China's Fujian Province, as indicated by the Zhang Fa Society, which noted that the submission deadline has been extended from May 1st to May 15th.
Liang revealed that the accomplishments of the contest's initial run last year are showcased on the official website of the 16th Straits Forum, a platform the MAC has identified as part of Beijing's "united front" strategy targeting Taiwan.
To clarify the scope of "cooperative activity" under Article 33-1 of the act, Liang explained that China's "united front" strategies are persistently morphing, and that specifying a list of banned activities might allow Chinese authorities to devise new tactics to evade the restrictions.
Not all cross-strait student exchanges are illegal, Liang explained, using reciprocal agreements between schools on both sides to host each other's students as an example of acceptable practices.
However, activities that solely benefit the Chinese side, often featuring speeches by CCP officials or government representatives promoting unification to Taiwanese students, are apparently under investigation by the MAC.
In response to the MAC's statement suggesting a potential breach of the act, the Zhang Fa Society issued a statement of its own the same day, asserting that the contest is a well-intentioned cultural exchange serving as an example of normal cross-strait interaction.
"We discourage unnecessary assumptions or misinterpretations," the society stated.
- The essay competition, organized by the Taipei-based Republic of China Zhang Fa Society and the Straits Publishing and Distributing Group, a CCP-controlled entity, may have breached Taiwan's Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, according to the Maundry Affairs Council (MAC).
- The MAC has criticized the contest, titled "Reading Together – A Shared Book Experience," for its potential involvement in prohibited "cooperative activities" under Article 33-1 of the act.
- The contest, citing its aim to foster cultural exchange and emotional connections among Taiwanese educators and students, offers all-expenses-paid experiences for Taiwanese students to attend prize ceremonies and workshops in China.
- Citings policy-and-legislation, Liang, the MAC Deputy Minister, highlighted the need for constant vigilance against China's "united front" strategies, suggesting that such activities could potentially fit into Beijing's agenda for unification with Taiwan.
