Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/07/2020
By: William Yen, and
CNA interns Lo Jing-wen
and Evelyn Yang

Taipei, Aug. 7 (CNA) A student rights group rallied in downtown Taipei on Friday demanding that the government provide better support for returning international students and not discriminate against Chinese students.

Some 15 members of the group "Taiwan International Student Movement," almost all of them students from China and Hong Kong, rallied outside the Ministry of Education (MOE) to demand that the ministry provide more affordable places for students to stay in quarantine when they return from abroad.

The group estimates there are close to 16,000 international students — 5,000 from China and 11,000 from 19 other countries — who have remained abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic and need to return to Taiwan to continue their studies.

"Many students struggle to pay for 14-day hotel quarantine, because it is anywhere from NT$30,000 (US$1,021) to NT$45,000. It is a huge burden for international students and make us less willing to continue our studies," said Lala (安安), a graduate student from Hong Kong currently studying at National Central University.    [FULL  STORY]