Guess I'm going to have to stop the self-deprecating humor I occasionally use in Taiwan about my past life as a "professional student." Because it turns out that the phrase has a rather more ominous connotation here than it does in the West:
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) office filed a defamation lawsuit [on July 3rd] against Cabinet Spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) implying Ma served as a "professional student" for the party when he was at Harvard University.
In Taiwan, the term "professional student" usually refers to those who studied abroad on KMT scholarships and worked as campus spies for the party, reporting on pro-independence Taiwanese students. [emphasis added]
The story's a bit old*, though I bring it up because I ran across this story about China sending its own "professional students" to America:
In a manner similar to Chinese espionage efforts, Chinese students are encouraged to gather seemingly innocuous data for the Chinese government. For example, who has been saying anti-Chinese government things on campus? Which Americans, especially Chinese-Americans, appear most likely to support the Chinese government?
As the article says, this too, is nothing new. Relatively new however, are proposals by the KMT to allow Chinese students to study in Taiwan. Left unaddressed in these proposals is the possibility probability that many of these Chinese students will be tasked with identifying future collaborators, and marking other Taiwanese students for blacklists, re-education camps - or worse.
It would indeed be a black joke - one translatable into any language - if the Taiwanese, having recently been freed of "professional students," were to elect an alleged one to the PRESIDENCY, and as a result, had their centers of higher education once more filled with that particular sub-set of humanity.
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* The story may be old, but as the The View from Taiwan notes, it's one that isn't dying, and it may have significant ramifications on the Taiwanese presidential elections in 2008.
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UPDATE (Aug 4/07): Fixed the Strategy Page link.
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