News Reference Material
Date: June 8, 2023
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) issued the following statement today (June 8, 2023) on the plan of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation to invite students from five mainland Chinese universities to visit Taiwan:
1. The government has consistently welcomed and held a positive view on cross-Strait youth exchanges. After the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan has progressively reopened borders to mainland Chinese degree students, exchange students, and short-term students without permitting professional exchanges yet. The MAC emphasized that any invitation of mainland Chinese individuals to Taiwan that are subject to a case-by-case review should comply with the laws and regulations and meet the objectives of the exchange to help promote positive interaction between the two sides across the Taiwan Strait.
2. The MAC stated that, the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation had recently passed on information through some scholars to the MAC about its plans on inviting students from five mainland Chinese universities to Taiwan and also provided the MAC with a brief itinerary and general information about the group members. In fulfillment of our responsibilities and as a goodwill reminder, the MAC outlined the aforementioned official policy position and responded that, if the purpose of this visit is educational exchange, then the itinerary should naturally focus on educational activities. The MAC also kindly reminded that the present social situation and the public’s demand for security management of exchange programs must be taken into consideration. The inviting organization and the host universities must fully assume their responsibilities for planning and implementing security measures.
3. The MAC reiterated that the government's established policy is to gradually resume healthy and orderly cross-Strait exchanges. Ensuring security management is the government's responsibility. Recent public opinion surveys have also indicated that the majority of Taiwanese public support the orderly expansion of cross-Strait exchanges with proper security management in place.