Separatist booths lambasted

Chinese protest wrong grouping of Tibet at KU

Chinese students protested and asked a South Korean university to apologize after the university placed Southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region and India in the same booth at an international festival.

During the International Students’ Festival of Korea University on Wednesday, the school put China’s Tibet Autonomous Region and India in one booth, according to pictures posted online by outraged Chinese netizens, who claimed to be students of the university, on Sina Weibo.

The booth also displayed a flag which is a pro-independence symbol adopted by the “Tibetan government in exile” together with India’s national flag, photos show.

China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the island of Taiwan were assigned to separate booths, but not in the same booth as the Chinese mainland’s.

The Chinese embassy in South Korea also lodged a representation to Korea University and the South Korean government.

Korea University’s International Students’ Festival is an annual event to promote international students’ cultures and bring together locals. Students arrange the booths to display cultural aspects of their home countries, the university said.

This action outraged Chinese students from the university.

“I am furious with Korea University’s action of undermining my country’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity. The university must explain that,” Ah Qing (pseudonym), a Chinese student at the university, who also attended the festival, told the Global Times on Thursday.

An employee from the communications team of Korea University told the Global Times on Thursday that “Tibet and India were assigned to the same booth because the booths were assigned by region, not by nation or political status.”

The employee said the university assigned booths according to the number of students from different countries and regions.

Because there are not enough students from the Tibet Autonomous Region and India for each to have one booth, they then grouped them together by region and by distance, he claimed.

He noted that because there are many students from Hong Kong and Taiwan, they were assigned to separate booths.

However, his explanation failed to convince Chinese netizens. Some questioned the presence of the “Tibet national flag,” saying it’s a move which supports separatism.

The university cannot do anything about it, the employee said.

The Tibet booth has been removed, but the university failed to apologize to Chinese students after the latter talked to the school about it, A Qing said.

She said the Chinese students and scholars association of Korea University is negotiating with the university, hoping it can consider Chinese students’ feelings and apologize.

As a top university in South Korea, it is ridiculous to make such a mistake, Sina Weibo user HyopeZhang said.