Taiwan: MAC flags essay contest tied to CCP-affiliated publisher for possible legal breach

TAIPEI: An essay competition jointly organised by a Taipei-based literary group and a publishing entity linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) may have violated Taiwanese law governing relations with China, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday, Taipei Times reported.

The event, which involves sending Taiwanese students to China under fully funded arrangements, could contravene Article 33-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area.

“In this case, the partner organisation is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps.” Liang said those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient to constitute a “cooperative activity” under Article 33-1 of the act, which prohibits collaboration with organisations of “any political nature.”

His remarks followed a MAC statement issued Monday, which said the Ministry of Education would begin investigating whether the competition — titled “Reading a Good Book Together” — violates the law. The competition is co-hosted by the Republic of China Zhang Fa Society in Taipei and the Straits Publishing and Distributing Group, which operates under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee.

According to the Zhang Fa Society’s website, the competition is part of a broader cross-strait reading and writing exchange aimed at “promoting cultural exchange and emotional connection between teachers and young students across the Taiwan Strait.”

Participants are given a list of books and asked to submit a reflective essay, with about 100 awards available. The total prize pool is NTD 200,000, and the top prize is worth NTD 6,000. The competition also offers selected participants the opportunity to join a study tour in Fujian Province, and the deadline for submissions has been extended to May 15, reported Taipei Times.

Liang noted that achievements from the first edition of the competition, held last year, are listed on the official website of the 16th Straits Forum — a platform the MAC has previously described as part of Beijing’s “united front” strategy aimed at influencing Taiwan.

Asked to explain what constitutes “cooperative activity” under the law, Liang said China’s “united front” tactics are constantly evolving, making it impractical to publish a fixed list of banned actions, as such a list could be used to devise workarounds. He emphasized that not all student exchanges violate the law, pointing to reciprocal programs where schools in Taiwan and China host each other’s students as legally acceptable.

“That would be considered a reciprocal arrangement between the two sides,” he said. However, he added that some events are “clearly one-sided,” with all costs covered by the Chinese side and often featuring speeches by CCP officials or United Front Work Department representatives promoting unification to Taiwanese youth, Taipei Times reported. “These are instances that the MAC believes warrant further investigation,” Liang said.

In response to Monday’s MAC statement, the Zhang Fa Society released its own, stating that the contest is a goodwill-based cultural exchange and a form of “normal cross-strait interaction.” The group added, “We urge against overinterpretation or unnecessary assumptions.” (ANI)