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Beijing offers Taiwanese pre-election sweeteners

China announced an invitation to Taiwanese doctors and new economic sweeteners yesterday ahead of the presidential elections next month.

The new favors include allowing licensed Taiwanese doctors with more than five years' experience to work in China without further tests.

Four new business zones with preferential policies would also be added to the existing four for Taiwanese farmers to grow cash crops, flowers, fish or livestock, officials said at a news conference by China's Taiwan Affairs Office.

Taiwanese doctors were given the green light to work in China last year, but they needed to pass a test first to serve the 1 million or so Taiwanese businesspeople and their families living in China.

Zhou Ruojun (周若軍), an official with China's Commerce Ministry, said that China would also help Taiwanese factories in coastal areas cope with rising costs and shrinking margins by offering loans and opportunities in the country's vast central and western areas.

Fan Liqing (范麗青), spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office, blamed the ruling Democratic Progressive Party for dragging its feet on opening up Taiwan to Chinese tourists and allowing direct cross-strait flights.

In response, Chen Tzay-jinn (陳再晉), Vice Minister of the Department of Health, yesterday warned local doctors to be cautious when practicing medicine in China because they would lack the legal protection they enjoy at home.

"Without an official agreement to protect the interests of doctors practicing in China, those interested in working there must be cautious," Chen said.

"Without a platform for extensive medical exchanges, and in the absence of any form of protection, it could be risky for Taiwanese doctors to practice in China," he said.
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