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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Academic claims he was misquoted by Chinese media
Delegates attend a forum on promoting the “one country, two systems” model in Taiwan held by the Society of Taiwan Studies in Ningde, China, on Friday last week. Photo: screen grab from the Internet
By Chung Li-hua / Staff reporter
A Taiwanese professor who attended an annual forum on promoting the “one country, two systems” model in Taiwan held last week in Ningde, China, by the Society of Taiwan Studies has claimed that he had been misrepresented by Chinese media outlets.
The forum, which opened on Friday last week, was titled: “Exploring the implementation of ‘one country, two systems’ in Taiwan following peaceful unification.”
It was the 11th such forum hosted by the Society of Taiwan Studies, a think tank chaired by former Chinese vice minister of foreign affairs Dai Bingguo （戴秉國）, to promote academic exchanges across the Taiwan Strait.
Xinhua news agency reported that the forum was attended by Chinese Culture University associate professor Liu Shing-ren （劉性仁）, National Chengchi University （NCCU） doctoral candidate Yin Jui-hung （殷瑞宏） and a number of Taiwanese teaching in China.
Young academics at the forum generally agreed that cross-strait unification is inevitable, and proposed ideas for promoting “one country, two systems” in Taiwan, Web site China Taiwan reported.
Liu was quoted by Xinhua as saying: “Promoting economic and social integration across the Strait to merge the two sides into one entity will be a key step in realizing peaceful unification.”
However, in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times （the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times）, Liu denied ever making such a remark.
He had not spoken with Xinhua and did not say those words at the forum, he said, adding that other Taiwanese at the event would be able to testify that was the case.
Nanjing University this week held a workshop for Taiwanese university students to promote cross-strait exchanges.
The Sunday to Wednesday workshop reportedly featured 14 students from National Taiwan University and NCCU, as well as several universities in Hong Kong and China.
National Sun Yat-sen University professor of China and Asia-Pacific region studies Lin Wen-cheng （林文程） said Chinese media outlets select content that helps create a sense that the “one country, two systems” model is widely supported.
Perhaps there were Taiwanese academics that opposed the model at the event, but no Chinese media outlets would report that at the risk of offending Beijing, he said.
Pro-unification academics usually understand how politically sensitive such issues are, especially as Taiwan’s next presidential election nears, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy vice president Yan Jiann-fa （顏建發） said.
“Once you have been labeled a communist, it would be difficult to ever clear yourself of that image,” he added.
Although attending such forums is not illegal, the government should urge academics to avoid the events, he said.
The theme of Ningde forum was how to implement the “one country, two systems” model if the Republic of China no longer existed, the Mainland Affairs Council said.
Although Taiwanese enjoy freedom of speech, they should take into account how such an event might be perceived by the public, it added.
Additional reporting by Ann Maxon
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
%http://www.taipeitimes.com/
