In its latest example of economic bullying, China on Friday barred Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), one of the world's largest securities firms, from doing business there in retaliation for its handling of overseas investment trips for two Taiwanese groups.
Local firms rushing to set up shop in the mainland should take heed.
"This is not about economics at all. This is entirely a political problem," the Asian Wall Street Journal cited an official at CSFB saying.
"Beijing's blood is boiling over this. ... All of our [China] deals are in jeopardy."
This is just the latest example of how China pushes around those who refuse to toe its political line. Countless examples of such intimidation exist in China's recent past and yet companies remain spellbound by the fabled "China Market" -- ?especially companies in Taiwan.
Seeing China as a panacea for Taiwan's economic slowdown, local firms are rushing across the Taiwan Strait in search of a new market, as well as cheap labor and land.
These firms are drawing rising condemnation from politicians who fear China will use them as pawns to further its unification plans.
"Everyone is mistaken in thinking that China is our only future," said former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) at a campaign rally over the weekend. Lee, a political juggernaut in Taiwan, then issued a strong warning to businesses that do go.
"The communists will first steal your money and then start to exploit you," he said.
He also debunked the mythical China market. China's consumer market is currently worth only about US$200 billion. By contrast, the US market equals US$1.2 trillion. Taiwanese firms should concentrate their efforts on real markets, not illusory ones, he said.
Lee also called on high-tech firms to think about national security before leaping to China.
A report published in July by the National Security Bureau (國安局), Taiwan's equivalent to the US' CIA, advised the government to use all its means to stem the flow of investment to China.
A high-ranking official in the bureau who confirmed contents of the report for the Taipei Times, took Formosa Plastics chairman Wang Yung-ching (王永慶) as an example of how local businessmen become the political puppets of Beijing once they place their cash in China.
In July, Wang implored the people of Taiwan to "calmly accept the `one China' principle," while repeating his call to lift all curbs on investment across the Strait.
Wang is not the only one calling for links with China. The effort received a huge boost from the three-day Economic Development Advisory Conference which ended on Aug. 26. Proposals passed at the conference called for the lifting of investment ceilings and preparing for direct cross-strait trade.
The new relaxed stance drew an immediate positive response from one of the nation's top high-tech firms, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電).
Earlier this year, its chairman, Morris Chang (
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique