DPP whip condemns Chinese over looting of Taiwanese-owned factory

A legislative whip of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) condemned Chinese authorities yesterday for not preventing protestors from looting a factory of a Taiwanese-financed company in Guangdong Province a day earlier.

Legislator Lai Ching-teh (賴清德) said that the factory operated by B.B. Battery Co., currently the third largest producer of dry batteries in the world, was surrounded by thousands of protestors Friday and looted the following day as public security officers stood by without intervening or trying to defuse the situation.

Condemning Guangdong authorities and police for their "negligence," Lai said that Beijing's newly enacted anti-secession law targeting Taiwan has not only provided China with a legal excuse to use non-peaceful means against Taiwan, it has also provided a convenient tool for corrupt Chinese authorities to blackmail Taiwan businesspeople maintaining business operations in China.

Nowadays, Lai claimed, Chinese authorities have become even more fearless or unbridled in their schemes against China-based Taiwan businesspeople in light of an increasingly divided Taiwan resulting from in-fighting triggered by the opposition parties.

Pointing a finger at the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), who is reportedly going to China at the end of this month for a "groundbreaking" visit, Lai urged the KMT to realize the nature of the Chinese communists and what kind of country China is.

Lai urged Lien to "stop and watch" how the Chinese authorities are treating the mainland-based Taiwan businesspeople before he embarks on his so-called "journey of peace."