Even as China escalates its military threats around Taiwan, tens of thousands of Taiwanese attended trade and commercial events across the Taiwan Strait last year, as Beijing steps up its economic manipulation to lure Taiwanese into its trap.
A study by the non-governmental organization Taiwan Information Environment Research, which analyzed more than 7,300 articles posted by a news portal run by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, showed that China last year held at least 849 cross-strait industrial exchange events supported or organized by Chinese government units, attracting an estimated 77,560 attendees from Taiwan.
The report also said that Chinese officials are aggressively promoting Beijing’s “Common Standards Across the Taiwan Strait” and “Demonstration Zones for Integrated Development Across the Taiwan Strait” to draw Taiwanese trade, investments and talent.
China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening the nation with military actions, while reaching out to those who are amenable to its point of view with economic incentives to achieve its political objectives.
The report named at least 28 legislators, county commissioners and council speakers of the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) as having attended the cross-strait events last year. These officials have proposed increasing cross-strait trade, seemingly oblivious to China’s escalating military drills and arbitrary bans on Taiwanese goods, and parroting Beijing’s “one China principle” that seeks to belittle Taiwan.
Taiwan has over the past few years made great efforts to diversify its overseas markets and reduce its reliance on China. Ministry of Finance data show that China and Hong Kong accounted for 31.7 percent of Taiwan’s total exports last year, a drop of 12.2 percentage points from a high of 43.9 percent in 2020. Taiwanese investment in China last year also hit a record low 11.4 percent of total foreign investments.
China has responded by strategically boosting its “carrots” to lure Taiwanese money and people. The Chinese State Council in 2023 and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧) last year instructed all government agencies to develop economic measures to “deepen the integration between two sides of the Taiwan Strait” to achieve the ultimate goal of unification. In February, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation announced “285 cross-strait common standards,” covering areas such as electronics, information technology, agriculture, services and renewable energy, which it said are designed to help Taiwanese industries by eliminating obstacles to technology and market access in China.
However, deeper trade integration heightens the risk of technological leaks, while adopting more Chinese specs would make Taiwanese companies even more dependent on the Chinese market. In the long term, they could influence the direction of Taiwan’s industrial development and limit its international competitiveness.
Faced with the intense pressure from US tariffs and trade restrictions, which could worsen its precarious economic condition, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and his diplomats are fanning out across the world to seek alliances to counter the US’ economic challenges. China’s moves to deepen economic ties with Taiwan could entrap the nation in the US-China trade war, placing its economic stability and development at risk.
Economic interactions with China, a major trading partner, are important, but Taiwan should be alert to the economic lures that could compromise its economic and political sovereignty.
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