VZCZCXRO4325
PP RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHIN #1367 2610139
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 170139Z SEP 08
FM AIT TAIPEI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9956
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS TAIPEI 001367 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS AIT/W AND EAP/RSC/TC 
STATE PASS USTR/DAVID KATZ AND JARED RAGLAND 
USDOC FOR 4430/ITA/MAC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR TW
SUBJECT: EDUCATION MINISTER CHENG ON PRC STUDENTS, MARKET 
ACCESS, AND THE FULBRIGHT PROGRAM 
 
REF: A. TAIPEI 8 
     ¶B. 2007 TAIPEI 2595 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Taiwan authorities are considering allowing 
up to 1,000 PRC students per year to study in Taiwan, and may 
begin recognizing degrees from first-tier PRC universities. 
The Ministry of Education is "favorable" to clarifications of 
the Fulbright program,s legal status sought by the U.S., and 
Education Minister Cheng Jei-cheng told the Director during a 
September 15 meeting that he wants to actively cooperate with 
AIT to both liberalize Taiwan,s regulations on market access 
for foreign schools, and monitor progress combating campus 
intellectual property rights (IPR) violations. 
Unfortunately, he seemed unfamiliar with the Ministry,s 
Campus Intellectual Property Action Plan, but he highlighted 
the importance of strengthening progress. End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) During a September 15 meeting with the Director and 
AIT officers, Education Minister Cheng Jei-cheng said 
although recognizing PRC degrees and opening to full-time PRC 
students are sensitive and difficult issues, his Ministry has 
been studying these issues over the past three months to come 
up with a workable plan.  Cheng said the current thinking is 
to allow up to 1,000 PRC students per year to come to Taiwan, 
and to review the situation after one or two years to see if 
it would be possible to increase the number.  As for PRC 
degrees, Cheng said that, due to the large number of Chinese 
universities, Taiwan would likely begin by recognizing 
degrees from universities that the PRC regime has listed as 
China,s top 100 schools before considering recognizing 
degrees from lesser-known schools. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Cheng agreed with the Director about the importance 
of protecting IPR on and around Taiwan,s university 
campuses, but seemed unfamiliar with the MOE,s Campus IP 
Action Plan (ref A). Cheng noted that Taiwan and the U.S. 
should continue to meet regularly to review Taiwan,s 
progress under the Plan, and that the two sides should set 
further goals for campus IPR protection. 
 
¶4. (SBU) After a brief overview of current Taiwan laws 
concerning MOE certification for branch campuses, Minister 
Cheng commented Taiwan wants to open its education market to 
the best universities in the world--including those from the 
United States and China--and is therefore interested in our 
proposals on how Taiwan should revise its laws to welcome 
more international schools.  Cheng added Taiwan would study 
our proposals and then have MOE staff meet with us at 
regular, six-month intervals to review Taiwan,s progress 
toward liberalization. Cheng,s attitude is more liberal than 
the preceding Minister of Education Tu Sheng-cheng, who did 
not think Taiwan needed to loosen requirements for foreign 
schools to set up branches in Taiwan, since in his view 
Taiwan already had too many colleges (ref B). 
 
¶5. (U) In response to the PAO,s request that the MOE support 
clarifying the legal status of the Foundation for Scholarly 
Exhange (FSE), which runs the Fulbright Program in Taiwan, 
via "Letters of Exchange" between TECRO and AIT, Section 
Chief Pauline Chen from the MOE Office of International 
Culture and Education said that the Ministry would follow 
MOFA,s September 12 recommendation to the MOE that the legal 
clarifications sought by the United States are "favorable". 
Chen added, however, that the MOE will still need to consult 
with the Ministry of Finance on the taxable status of 
Fulbright grants, as well as with the Department of Health 
regarding possible National Health Insurance coverage for 
Fulbright scholars.  Minister Cheng said that he is 
unfamiliar with the details of the U.S. requests, but that he 
would "do his best" to see that the MOE and other Taiwan 
agencies implement our recommendations. 
 
Comment 
------------ 
 
¶6. (SBU) Cheng, a lifelong academic in his first government 
position, gave the impression of not yet being fully on top 
of his ministerial portfolio.  He frequently deferred to more 
junior staff to address the issues under discussion, and 
spent much of the meeting skimming background materials on 
the topics.  At the same time, he seemed generally agreeable 
to the points raised by the Director, and eager to work with 
us in the future. End comment. 
YOUNG