Allowing the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) to set up offices in Beijing and Taipei could legalize any ongoing under-the-table unification efforts by China and force Taiwan to follow Hong Kong as a Chinese special administrative region, former Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) deputy chairman David Huang (黃偉峰) said yesterday.
Huang, an associate research fellow at the Institute of European and American Studies at Academia Sinica who has served as Taiwan’s deputy representative to the US, made the remark following President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) proposal on Friday to amend the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) to allow both the SEF and ARATS to establish branch offices in each other’s capitals.
“Granting ARATS the right to establish an office in Taiwan could have a profound impact on cross-strait relations, as it would most likely follow in the steps of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong,” Huang said on the sidelines of a forum organized by the Taiwan Brain Trust think tank in Taipei.
During the period Hong Kong was under British rule, the Chinese liaison office was known as the Xinhua News Agency Hong Kong Branch — a Chinese institute in charge of everyday Hong Kong affairs, management of Hong Kong-based Chinese-funded companies and even Taiwan-related affairs.
During that time, the agency was considered a bastion of pro-Beijing power, which promoted the rise of Chinese-funded corporations in Hong Kong and also took charge of bilateral talks between Beijing and London over the transfer of Hong Kong’s sovereignty in 1997.
Academics who studied the years before Hong Kong’s retrocession have also pointed out that the Xinhua bureau served as a base from which the Chinese intelligence apparatus collected information within the former British colony.
“If the ARATS is to establish a branch office in Taiwan, it would no doubt become China’s primary base in handling Taiwan affairs and could legitimize all under-the-table work — such as collecting intelligence, influencing public opinion and the media, as well as extending the influence of Chinese-funded companies in Taiwan,” Huang said.
Huang also cautioned that if the SEF were to erect branch offices in the Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Shanghai, they would most likely be defined as semi-official organizations or even as “semi-consulates.”
“Furthermore, if the government is to implement an absentee voting mechanism in the future, Taiwanese businesspeople based in China may have to register with these institutes before they can cast a vote, which could be a decisive factor in future presidential elections and have an adverse impact on opposition parties in Taiwan,” Huang said.
Translated by Stacy Hsu, staff writer
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College