LSE students see red over Taiwan’s colour
THE London School of Economics is considering amending a Mark Wallinger globe sculpture to show Taiwan as part of China, after student protests.
The World Turned Upside Down statue, which was unveiled last week outside LSE’S student activity centre, is a “large political globe” where the geographical locations of nation states have been inverted to show the world “from a different viewpoint.”
On the map, Taiwan is coloured pink while China is yellow – a move said to have angered Chinese students as it suggests they are separate nations.
Taiwan is a de facto independent state but is considered to be a breakaway province by the Chinese government. It is recognised by 16 countries, but not at the United Nations.
An LSE spokesman said: “The artwork currently does not reflect our understanding of United Nations delineations. We are considering amendments but no final decision has been reached.”
The geopolitical tensions were played out on campus this week, when Dame Minouche Shafik, the university’s director, called a meeting between students from both sides. Taiwanese students wanted the globe to stay as it was because Taiwan has its own government – led by president Tsai Ing-wen, an LSE alumnus.
Most of its 23.5million people identify as Taiwanese. Li-an Huang, 23, a Taiwanese student at the meeting, said: “The Chinese students were very firm throughout, insisting that Taiwan has always been part of China. In the meeting I kept telling the school that we are not the same country. I even got out my passport to show them.”
Mr Huang claims he was told that because Taiwan is depicted as part of China on UN maps, the colour on Mr Wallinger’s sculpture will be changed.
He said: “We thought there would at least be dialogue and we could discuss our side of the story with the Chinese students. But it felt like the decision had already been made.”
The dispute also attracted the attention of Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s foreign affairs minister. Writing in an open letter to Dame Minouche, he said: “The truth is that Taiwan is a sovereign democratic country, not part of any other. If it is changed it will lead young men and women everywhere to believe that LSE bows to the pressure and bullying of Beijing.”
It is unclear whether Mr Wallinger was consulted over a possible change. He did not respond to requests for comment.