Beijing has been mobilizing overseas political parties who advocate unification across the Taiwan Strait to visit Taiwanese political parties under the guise of economic exchanges, while “discouraging independence and promoting unification,” Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) Minister Wu Hsin-hsing (吳新興) said yesterday.
Wu made the statement during a question-and-answer session at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee.
China has been very active in Asian overseas communities, working through multiple organizations, such as the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification, to quash suggestions of Taiwanese independence, Wu said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Propaganda that seeks to divide and undermine overseas compatriot groups friendly toward Taiwan has been distributed at various events, Wu said.
The efforts were aimed at downsizing the scale of Taiwanese overseas compatriot organizations, as well as undermining support for the Republic of China (ROC) and unity over Taiwanese identity, Wu said.
Just as Beijing has sought to undermine solidarity of Taiwanese overseas compatriot groups, so to have Taiwanese groups toward Chinese compatriots, Wu said.
Taiwan has been countering continued Chinese “United Front” tactics and there is a growing number of overseas Chinese attending Taiwanese events and proudly waving the Taiwanese flag, he said.
“The number of overseas Chinese is growing and they are finding that the China they knew while living in it is not necessarily the same China other nations see,” Wu said.
Many Chinese compatriots yearn for Taiwan’s democracy and are often seen attending national events, he said.
Cross-strait relations is a competition between democracy and communism, Wu said, adding: “The people will choose for themselves” which system is better.
The OCAC has great faith in overseas Taiwanese compatriots and believes that their support for the nation is unwavering and strong, Wu said.
Meanwhile, legislators expressed concern that members of the China Council may be meeting with “United Front” sympathizers inside Taiwan.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) asked Wu if the OCAC was aware of which political parties the council met with when they visited.
Members of the council met with members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the New Party, the Alliance for the Reunification of China, the China Unification Promotion Party (中華統一促進黨) and other pro-unification political groups, Wu said, adding that the OCAC had expressed its disavowal for local political parties to receive members of the council, but they continue do so.
No OCAC members on the China council and no OCAC officials, including those holding honorary titles, attended China’s National Day celebrations this year, Wu said.
The greatest concern the China Council’s visit poses is whether it is seeking to disrupt Taiwan’s democracy through non-democratic means, New Power Party Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said.
“While unification is a political view that people are free to express in Taiwan, it is a concern that Taiwan’s democracy might be compromised by non-democratic means, such as violence and offshore funding,” Hsu said.
He called on the government to look into the financing of the council, which could reveal the purposes of the organization.
“It is difficult to regulate overseas organizations with Taiwanese laws and what we could do is to alert the public to these organizations’ hidden agenda,” Hsu said.
However, laws can be amended to deal with domestic organizations allegedly networking for Beijing, such as the China Unification Promotion Party, Hsu said.
While Taiwan is a democracy where people are free to express their political beliefs, measures have to be taken against Beijing seeking to influence the nation’s democracy, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said.
National security could be compromised if Beijing is actively approaching and inciting Taiwanese, Huang said.
Chinese councilors should be banned from entering Taiwan if the purpose of their visit is different from what is stated on their visa application, the lawmaker said.
The National Immigration Agency should reject their entry and deport them if necessary, he added.
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
REASSURANCE: The US said Taiwan’s interests would not be harmed during the talk and that it remains steadfast in its support for the nation, the foreign minister said US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would bring up Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in South Korea this week. “I will be talking about Taiwan [with Xi],” Trump told reporters before he departed for his trip to Asia, adding that he had “a lot of respect for Taiwan.” “We have a lot to talk about with President Xi, and he has a lot to talk about with us. I think we’ll have a good meeting,” Trump said. Taiwan has long been a contentious issue between the US and China.
RSS