Government hopes Chinese students can come back to study in Taiwan

Government hopes Chinese students can come back to study in Taiwan

2025-02-21

After a lapse of 14 years, the National Conference of University and College Presidents invited the Mainland Affairs Council to give a report. Mainland Affairs Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said his council and the education ministry both wanted Chinese students to return to study at Taiwanese universities but the authorities in China had given no response. Let’s hear more.

Chiu Chui-cheng
Mainland Affairs Council minister
Parents of mainland students have called the Ministry of Education and the Mainland Affairs Council to ask if their children can study in Taiwan. Currently their children have no way of studying in Taiwan. The most important reason for this is that the Chinese authorities are imposing restrictions.

Cheng Ying-yao
Minister of Education
From this point in time and afterwards, of course we will not recognize diplomas from the three Chinese schools. Of course in the past we permitted this. If our current students need it, the Ministry of Education will help them to transfer back once more to Taiwan to study.

In response to the government’s recent decision to no longer recognize diplomas issued by three Chinese universities affiliated with China’s United Front Work Department, the council noted that there are other Chinese universities to choose from. The Ministry of Education will also draw up plans to help the students currently enrolled, assisting them to switch universities, and so on, so that pure educational exchanges do not end up becoming a tool for United Front work.

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台灣歡迎中生就讀但中方設限邱垂正:盼交流勿成統戰工具

2025-02-21

睽違14年，全國大專校院校長會議，再度邀請陸委會前來報告，主委邱垂正也透露陸委會與教育部，都希望能恢復中生來台就讀，但卡在對岸不給回應。

[[陸委會主委邱垂正]]
“陸生的家長，打電話到教育部、陸委會說，我的兒子可不可以到台灣來留學，現在他們的子弟，沒有辦法來台灣留學，最主要原因是中國當局還是設限的”

[[教育部長鄭英耀]]
“從現在的時間點以後進入學校就讀的，當然它就不承認，在過去的當然我們是承認，如果他(在校生)需要，教育部會來協助他們，再轉學回來台灣就讀”

而日前禁止與三所隸屬中共統戰部的大學交流，對此陸委會表示，還是有其他學校可以選擇。教育部也會研議救濟管道，協助在校生辦理轉學等等，讓單純的教育交流，不淪為統戰工具。

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This year the National Health Insurance system adopted new measures for various hospitals, including a requirement that outpatient services in medical centers, which are Taiwan’s top-tiered hospitals, to be beneath 55% of total services offered. There are worries in the public this will cause sick people to be unable to see a doctor when they need to. In response, Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Tai-yuan says the role of medical centers is focusing on emergency care and acute illnesses. The government will implement a grading system for hospitals, so patients can go to lower-ranked hospitals for minor complaints. Outpatient services in medical centers will also have supporting measures in place so no one who is ill will be out of the loop.

President Lai Ching-te attends a seminar discussing the sustainability of the National Health Insurance system ahead of its 30th anniversary in March. He stresses the importance of universal health insurance coverage to protect the health of the nation’s people.

This year new systems were introduced in various hospitals, requiring the proportion of outpatient services in medical centers to be less than 55%. This has caused the public to worry that sick people won’t be able to get doctor’s appointments like they used to.

Chiu Tai-yuan
Minister of Health and Welfare
The role of a medical center, in theory, should be focusing on emergencies, acute illnesses and hospitalization. Controlling the outpatient volume of a medical center is also a direction we’ll take, but we will also propose appropriate supporting measures.

Shih Chung-liang
National Health Insurance Administration
The total amounts for individual hospitals are calculated on a quarterly basis, not a yearly basis. In the southern regions, in Kaohsiung and Pingtung, and even in the northern regions, these measures have been implemented one after the other, and no such incidents have occurred.

Currently, among the 22 medical centers in Taiwan, 9 have outpatient service ratios that exceed the standard. Many people still go to large hospitals for treatment of minor illnesses.

Hung Tzu-jen
Shin Kong Wu Ho Su Memorial Hospital
The calculations for the total amount in individual hospitals include outpatient surgeries. These should be excluded. Currently outpatient surgeries are recorded as being in the outpatient services volume. However, this is unreasonable because if outpatient services volumes increase, your outpatient proportion in total number of cases will very quickly exceed 55%.

As the new system is being implemented, the medical community hopes that the Ministry of Health and Welfare will make rolling adjustments. When it implements a tiered system for hospitals, the government has always seen it as imperative to focus the capacity of medical centers on emergency and critical care.

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Saipan birth tourism for Chinese mothers

So-called birth tourism is not only happening on the US mainland. Pregnant Chinese mothers have been heading to a US territory much closer to home to have their babies and obtain for them - coveted U.S. citizenship. VOA Mandarin’s Yu Yao and Jiu Dao have the details from Saipan, capital of the Northern Mariana Islands. Elizabeth Lee narrates.

Tourists may come to Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, for its Pacific Island beauty, but not this mother. She’s here so her daughter can acquire a piece of paper that says she’s a US citizen.

The mother has overstayed the 14 days she’s allowed to be in this US territory. She only uses her surname, Ye, to protect her identity.

Ye
Chinese Citizen
Whether it’s the education system or the everyday environment within China, there’s too much pressure. Even I want to escape. I don’t want to be there.

Ye arrived in Saipan in September, entering under a 14-day visa waiver program for Chinese citizens implemented in 2019. Before that, when birth tourism from China was at its highest, Chinese nationals were allowed to stay without a visa for 45 days.

Arnold Palacios is the governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Arnold Palacios
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It peaked in 2017 and 2018.

With more than 500 babies born to Chinese mothers in each of those years, Palacios says those births surpassed the number born to Saipan women. The number of Chinese births on the island dropped during the pandemic.

Since 2009, government records show, about 3,300 babies have been born here to Chinese mothers. Ye says she found Saipan on social media while researching places to give birth.

Conservatives in the US have argued that birthright citizenship encourages illegal immigration and is being exploited.

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end it.

Donald Trump
US President
We’re the only country in the world that does this with birthright, as you know, and it’s just absolutely ridiculous.

While this order is being challenged in court, Ye hopes there will be a good outcome for her daughter and maybe even herself.

Ye
Chinese Citizen
I felt once I got here, it’s more humane place. For sure there will be a way to solve the challenges I am facing.

Since the end of last year, travelers from China have to apply online for a waiver and be vetted through an electronic pre-screening process before they are allowed to enter.

For Yu Yao and Jiu Dao in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, Elizabeth Lee, VOA News.

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Cat cafe in historic Tainan building draws crowds

More animal cafes are looking to capture a slice of the market by offering more therapeutic features. Now even an old Japanese-era dorm on Tainan’s Chikan East Street also houses one. Although tucked away in a small corner of West Central District, the promise of sitting in the company of its feline stars is drawing lots of visitors.

Hidden down a narrow alley, this Japanese-era building boasts plenty of classic charm. Stepping stones shaped like cat paws betray the surprise waiting inside. Twelve cats call this cafe home. They line the glass-enclosed walkway, and sometimes poke their heads inside private rooms to the delight of customers.

Visitor
It’s soothing. I don’t need to have my own cat. I can just play with other people’s, like playing with other people’s kids.

These kids are having even more fun playing with the cats. They don’t have one at home, so they come here to play.

Visitor
This way is gentler. They won’t get afraid. We can’t get close to cats very often. This is my first time playing with one.

Other visitors came for the classic Japanese building.

Visitor
I mostly came for the architecture. It’s beautiful and they renovated it well.

This old building is on Chikan East Street in Tainan’s West Central District. After World War II, it was used as a police dorm. In 2016 it was registered as a historic building with the Tainan City Government. The traditional wooden structure maintains most of its original appearance. Its nostalgic and comforting atmosphere attracted a famous cat cafe from Kaohsiung, which chose it for a new location.

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Chang Hui-ying
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Space that’s too crowded makes them uneasy, so over here we made a hallway specifically to give the cats more space.

The cafe also separates the cats according to disposition and age. It’s a first for Tainan, combining a historic building with a cat cafe in a reflection of the city’s pet-friendly policies.

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Not in my backyard: Banqiao residents oppose plans to expand funeral parlor

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Residents of New Taipei’s Banqiao District are protesting plans to renovate and expand the New Taipei City Funeral Parlor in their neighborhood.

Protester
Why are you pushing to expand the Banqiao funeral parlor? Six stories above and five stories below. Such vileness. What do you take us Banqiao residents for? You’re stepping on us people of Banqiao. You’re stepping on us right below your foot. You’re really, really disgusting.

New Taipei City Councilor Chou Sheng-kao, the leader of the protest, presented a petition with some 10,000 signatures.

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We hope the city council can convene a working project group and that the city government will consider our appeal in today’s petition.

The project proposal came amid a rising number of deaths in recent years. Whether to move the site or optimize existing facilities has been a contentious issue. The city government hopes to re-build the site, and local residents are clearly not happy with this.

Chou Sheng-kao
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It’s inappropriate to have the funeral parlor here. What nobody else wants, we also don’t want. Will the city government and the city council please have some mercy on the people of Banqiao.

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