Some Taiwanese businesspeople based in China, known as Taishang, called on the government to conduct a risk assessment of China's investment environment and provide more incentives for them to invest in Taiwan.
The heads of some Taishang associations made the suggestions to the government during the two-day Mid-Autumn Festival Conference and Gathering hosted by the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), the quasi-governmental entity that deals with cross-strait affairs in the absence of official ties between Taiwan and China.
About 150 heads and officials of regional Taiwanese business associations attended the event, as well as government officials and other dignitaries.
Ho Hsi-hao (何希灝), the head of the Zhangzhou Taiwanese businessmen's association, urged the government to disclose the risks associated with the investment environment in China, as the Chinese market is highly risky.
In response, You said that the SEF will make an assessment report on the investment environment in several major cities in China to provide a reference for Taishang.
The risk of investing in China results partly from its incomplete law enforcement system and partly because of deadlocked cross-strait relations, said Lin Jung-te (林榮德), who is head of Kunshan Taiwanese businessmen's association.
Taiwanese businesspeople are disadvantaged in China, Lin said, adding that Taishang face unfair competition.
"Taishang are easy targets for accusations of tax evasion and it is not easy for them to meet their financial needs through China's banks," Lin said.
Yeh Hung-teng (葉宏燈), a Taishang based in Dongguan, urged the government to provide more investment incentives to attract Taishang back to Taiwan.
"While the price of raw materials and the cost of labor have been gradually growing in recent years in China, the government should take the opportunity to help Taishang reduce production cost, the factor that prompts Taishang to move offshore," Yeh said.
The Taishang also paid a visit to the Far Glory Free Trade Zone, a park established with the aim of luring Taishang back from China.
The park integrates air cargo with a free trade port and is also the only one of its kind in the world, said Far Glory chairman Chao Teng-hsing (
The park is scheduled to begin operations in November and more than half of its sites have been booked, with most reserved by Taishang, said Tung Chi-wen (董啟文), the park's deputy marketing manager.
Lo Yuan-mao (羅元茂), the vice head of the Dongguan Taiwanese businessmen's association, urged the government to carry out cross-strait charter flights as soon as possible.
"The lack of cross-strait charter flights, which might significantly reduce transportation costs across the Strait might discount the benefits of the free trade zone," Lo said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods