Cross-strait ties still solid,local business leaders say

Growing tensions across the Taiwan Strait will not likely impact the close economic relationship between the two sides, local business leaders said yesterday.

Taiwanese companies have been distancing themselves from politics since China increased its rhetoric against "pro-independence" businesspeople, but business leaders said the threats should have little impact on their bottom line.

"We don't need to panic too much as no Taiwanese business-people [operating in China] ever said they support independence, as Beijing has accused," Kao Chin-yen (高清愿), chief executive officer of Uni-President Enterprise Group, said yesterday.

"The two sides should maintain a peaceful relationship and work together to make money for the next 50 years," Kao told reporters after attending a meeting held by the non-profit Third Wednesday Club.

Beijing said last month that it doesn't welcome Taiwanese businesspeople who make money in China and then go back home to support Taiwan's independence.

The cross-strait relationship was further strained yesterday as China's Vice Minister of Commerce Ma Xiuhong (馬秀紅) reiterated Beijing's position,though she noted that the legal rights of Taiwanese businesses in China will be protected.

"We have not said that we will restrict anybody's investment," Ma said. "But one thing's for sure -- we will not welcome those Taiwanese businessmen who are resolutely in support of Taiwan independence or undertake separatist activities."

On Tuesday, the new chairman of Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp, Frank Liao (廖錦祥), said at a shareholders' meeting in Tainan that the two sides of the Strait should shelve politics.

Shareholders approved the appointment of Liao to replace Hsu Wen-lung (許文龍) to head the world's fourth-biggest flat-panel-display maker, after Hsu was singled out by Beijing as unwelcome.

Tony Cheng (鄭榮文), chairman of the Taiwan Merchant Association Shenzhen (深圳台商協會), said local governments in China were aware of the central government's position, but have not taken action to clamp down on Taiwanese investors.

But China's harsh tone has appeared to stop all talk of political issues in Taiwanese business circles across the Strait, Cheng said.

Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥), who addressed the Third Wednesday Club's meeting yesterday, said she doubts Taiwanese companies will be sanctioned.

Once China chokes off investment, they will lose a huge amount of imports and force Taiwanese companies to leave the market, Ho said.

For the first quarter of this year, Taiwan's exports to China were US$9.994 billion, a 28.1 percent increase from a year earlier, according to ministry statistics.

Chen Lee-in (陳麗瑛), a researcher at the Chung Hua Institution for Economic Research, suggested businesspeople in China remain calm, saying the statement directed at Hsu was an isolated incident.

Cheng, however, said Taiwanese businesspeople -- who no longer hold an ace in the Chinese market amid an influx of foreign investment there -- need to be cautious about political pressure.

"Many were saying that local governments in China will ignore the political stance and open their arms to Taiwanese enterprises" Cheng said. "But the thing is, they have excluded Taiwanese investment from the priority list since many large multinational corporations are vying to enter the market."