Mainland spokesperson slams DPP's new move of blocking cross-Strait academic exchanges

BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Tuesday denounced the Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities for prohibiting universities in Taiwan from cooperating with premium science and engineering universities of the mainland.

Chen Binhua, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said the DPP's move harms the interests of Taiwan's universities and exposes it to be narrow-minded and arrogant.

After previously banning exchanges between local institutions and three mainland universities, including Jinan University, the educational authority in Taiwan recently added seven more mainland universities, including Beihang University and Beijing Institute of Technology, to the list of institutions prohibited from academic exchanges.

These institutions are globally renowned engineering universities, and their achievements in a wide range of areas have made significant contributions to industrial development and technological progress in both Chinese mainland and the world, rather than solely focusing on military technology, Chen added.

The DPP has repeatedly extended its political interference into cross-Strait educational exchanges, demonstrating its mindset of opposing anything related to the mainland, which has also been widely criticized by the education sector in Taiwan.

"We are willing to share the convenience of the mainland's advanced education with students from Taiwan, and the mainland's universities always welcome Taiwan compatriots with academic aspirations," said Chen.