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.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
RSS