A unit of Taiwan’s representative office in the United States has dismissed accusations that it was trying to prevent a key figure in a student movement from speaking in the US at its facility.
A scholar at Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s top research institute, Huang Kuo-chang, applied to give a speech at the Culture Center of Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington DC. He planned to talk about the “predicament and prospects facing Taiwan’s democracy” on Aug. 23. He was heavily involved in a student movement that led to the occupation of the legislature back in March.
After receiving the application, the center consulted 63 Taiwanese expatriates, who were asked whether the application should be approved. Huang called the move a form of ideological censorship.
The center responded that it consulted overseas Taiwanese about Huang’s application because the organizations sponsoring his visit sent out invitations for the speech before approval was received.
The center said it was trying to be impartial in its decision and accused the applicant of coercing it into approving the request by sending out invitations first.