Seafood restaurant chain Hai Pa Wang’s statement that it supports the “one China” policy could create a “domino effect” that could affect other Taiwanese businesses, a Chinese academic said.
The company on Monday issued a statement in the form of an advert in the Chinese-language Want Daily, saying it supports Beijing’s “one China” principle and that it has no relationship with President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) family other than that between “a tenant and a landlord.”
“Hai Pa Wang firmly supports the idea that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China and our commitment to a peaceful win-win situation across the Strait is unshakable,” the statement read.
The restaurant chain — which has branches in Taiwan and China — has been viewed as supporting Taiwanese independence, with investors said to have close ties to Tsai.
It was recently fined by Chinese authorities for allegedly mislabeling products made at its factory in Chengdu in China’s Sichuan Province.
In an editorial in the Global Times, Shanghai Institute of Taiwan Studies deputy director Ni Yongjie (倪永杰) said Hai Pa Wang’s public statement is the first pro-Beijing message to come from from a pan-green business group and might have a “domino effect” on other Taiwanese businesses.
Statements by the government accusing Beijing of political interference in fining Hai Pa Wang are “naive” and “glib,” Ni said.
Hai Pa Wang’s statement is “the first shot” showing the divide between Taiwanese businesses and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government, he said.
Beijing must “strike as the law requires” against entities that promote Taiwanese independence, he added.
Ni was referring to Mainland Affairs Council Minister Katharine Chang’s (張小月) statement calling on Beijing to stop “putting political labels” on Taiwanese businesses and a Presidential Office statement accusing Beijing of political interference in the affairs of Taiwanese businesspeople in China.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) said that Hai Pa Wang was fined for failing sanitation inspections, adding that it was a legal move and was not politically motivated.
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
RSS