TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Wednesday (Oct. 16) praised student associations for refusing to attend a cross-strait leadership forum organized by China.

The groups from major colleges such as National Taiwan University (NTU) turned down the invitation because they felt the conference would turn into a propaganda platform for Beijing’s communist regime, the Liberty Times reported. The students had grown up in a free and democratic environment marked by independent thinking, so they were able to reach their own conclusions about the nature of the Chinese event, according to MAC.

At a news conference Wednesday, the student associations accused NTU of still trying to recruit students willing to go to China, leading the MAC to remind universities not to assist Beijing with the organization of politically-tinged events. China had recently prepared several conferences and exchanges with academics, which in fact served to promote government propaganda, the Liberty Times quoted the MAC as saying.