China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) yesterday said Beijing has extended economic benefits and subsidies to Taiwanese businesses, civic groups, cultural workers and artists in China that were previously exclusively for Chinese citizens, a step that critics said represents an escalation in Beijing’s use of “united front” tactics.
Hailing the measures as “unprecedented,” TAO spokesman An Fengshan (安峰山) said the 31 incentives, effective immediately, would allow “Taiwanese compatriots to share in the opportunities arising from China’s economic development.”
The incentives seek to bring an “equality of opportunity” to Chinese and Taiwanese who are studying, starting businesses, working or living in China, An said.
Photo: CNA
The policy applies to Taiwanese businesses and entities involved in a wide variety of commercial and noncommercial activities.
The incentives include permitting Taiwanese firms to invest in Chinese businesses, receive tax breaks, participate in the “Made in China 2025” initiative and National Key Research and Development Programs, bid for government procurement contracts, and manage semi-public enterprises, the TAO said.
Beijing is also encouraging the involvement of Taiwanese entrepreneurs in the Belt and Road Initiative, particularly in China’s midwestern and northeastern regions, it said.
Taiwanese-owned agricultural entities are to receive the same subsidies and benefits that are available to their Chinese counterparts, it added.
Taiwanese are now eligible to enroll in certification exams for 134 professions and become members of Chinese industry associations and trade groups to “take part in work at the grassroots level,” the TAO said.
Beijing is to relax restrictions on cross-strait cooperation in film and TV productions to facilitate collaboration, it said, adding that restrictions on Taiwanese publications and films marketed in China have been removed.
Taiwanese are now eligible to register for and win prizes and awards in the Chinese Cultural Heritage Development Excellence competition, it added.
The 31 incentives were “tailor-made” for Taiwanese, he said.
The Mainland Affairs Council said that it was aware of Chinese efforts to induce Taiwanese to trade political recognition for profit and that it would be on alert regarding such developments and their potential effects on Taiwanese industry and skilled workers.
Such endeavors over the past few years have been attempts to turn Taiwanese by trying prove the validity of China’s claims, the council said.
Taipei has placed significant emphasis on policies that would improve Taiwan’s economy, grow its technology industry and foster skilled workers among the younger generation, it said.
The council called on China to work toward introducing mutually beneficial policies that are free of political manipulations, saying that only then could benign cross-strait interactions be maintained.
Many of the measures and policies announced by China require interagency collaboration, so whether Beijing actually has such plans and the actual rate of implementation of such policies remains to be seen, the council said.
The council cautioned Taiwanese that there are differences in systems, regulations, market environment and values across the Taiwan Strait, saying that they should be circumspect in their risk assessment to maintain their rights and safety.
Additional reporting by CNA
‘DEMOCRATIC FISH’: Soichiro Hayashi said he wants to return Taiwan’s kindness after it helped with relief efforts after the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami Japanese fish farmers are ready to help Taiwan after China banned Taiwanese grouper imports, the Sankei Shimbun reported yesterday. The Chinese General Administration of Customs suspended imports of the fish on Monday last week, citing prohibited chemicals and excessive levels of oxytetracycline allegedly found in grouper imports since December last year. Soichiro Hayashi, president of the Hayashi Trout Farm in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture, is leading the push for Taiwanese grouper imports, the newspaper said. His call has caught the attention of several large sushi chains, the report said. Hayashi, who is the Fukushima branch head of the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association in Japan,
‘TROJAN HORSE’ SCHEME: The comment that a bridge would allow China’s PLA to easily launch an attack shows ‘a lack of backbone,’ Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said Critics accused Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of being oblivious to national security concerns after he proposed constructing a bridge to link Kinmen and China’s Xiamen (廈門). Ko, who is also the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman, made the proposal when presiding over the opening ceremony of the party’s office in Kinmen on Saturday. He said the bridge could solve Kinmen’s population, electricity and garbage problems, as well as serve as a shortcut for leaving or entering Taiwan without traveling via Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport). He also proposed building a hospital in Kinmen to attract people who are seeking medical treatment in
OVER THE HUMP: In a seven-day period ending on Wednesday, the nation reported 366,628 new cases, down 19 percent from the 451,358 reported in the previous week The nation might further open up to more arrivals in the next two months, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported 48,283 new local COVID-19 cases, down from more than 50,000 in the previous few days. Taiwan on Wednesday last week introduced a plan to allow up to 25,000 arrivals per week as part of efforts to gradually reopen borders, which includes reducing mandatory quarantines for inbound travelers from seven to three days, followed by four days in “self-initiated epidemic prevention.” The quota covers inbound Taiwanese arrivals, businesspeople and migrant workers. Former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) yesterday said
CECC UPDATE: Officials said the definition of a confirmed COVID-19 case has been revised to include those who are positive in a PCR home test confirmed by a doctor The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday said that it would probably list monkeypox as a category 2 notifiable communicable disease today or tomorrow. The WHO is to convene an emergency committee meeting today in accordance with the International Health Regulations to discuss whether the spread of monkeypox to 39 countries, including 32 non-endemic countries, constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. On Tuesday, the Singaporean Ministry of Health confirmed its first imported case of monkeypox, which is also the first case reported in Southeast Asia. South Korea yesterday reported its first confirmed case of monkeypox — a South Korean national who
RSS