Xu Lin instigated an international incident on 23 July 2014 when she ordered pages of a program of the European Association of Chinese Studies (EACS) conference at the University of Minho torn out in order to remove any reference to Taiwanese institutions.Shih Hsiu-chuan, EACS to protest Hanban's academic meddling: source, Taipei Times, 31 July 2014.Peter Cai, , Business Spectator, 6 August 2014. "China fails the soft-power test". "China hurts Taiwan's feelings at academic conference in Portugal", "Pakistan Defence" website, 4 August 2014The Wall Street Journal", " "Beijing's Propaganda Lessons: Confucius Institute officials are agents of Chinese censorship.", 7 August 2014.China's obstruction at conference hurts cross-strait ties: Taiwan, Focus Taiwan News Channel, 28 July 2014. The reason for the censorship was apparently concern that the publicity for independent Taiwan institutions would cast doubt on China's claim to Taiwan. Roger Greatrex, President of the EACS, subsequently issued a report on the deletion of pages from conference materials and a wrote public letter of protest against Hanban's interference. The report detailed the timeline of events concerning Xu Lin's censorship.Roger Greatrex, Report: The Deletion of Pages from EACS Conference materials in Braga (July 2014) , European Association for Chinese Studies, 1 August 2014.
