China is continuing its efforts to peel off Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in an all-out attempt to influence next year’s elections and might convince more countries to switch sides before the end of this year, the National Security Council (NSC) said in report released on Wednesday.
The report, which was discussed at a meeting on Monday of Taiwan’s top national security and foreign affairs officials, said that China’s threats and acts of suppression have been coming hard and fast.
For example, China has been conducting military exercises that target Taiwan, has banned individual visits to Taiwan by its nationals, and has convinced the Solomon Islands and Kiribati to switch recognition from Taipei to Beijing, the report said.
Screengrab from the Internet
Amid the heightened threats, Taiwan might lose up to two more allies before the end of the year and could see increased pressure on friendly countries, including the US, Japan and members of the EU, it said.
“China would resort to any means to interfere in Taiwan’s 2020 elections and to further suppress Taiwan in the international community,” said the report, which was an analysis of the heightened threat from China and its attempts to influence the elections.
China also sees economic issues as one of the best ways to manipulate Taiwan’s elections and political direction, it said.
“At a sensitive time when elections are approaching, it [China] has taken heavy actions to reduce cross-strait economic and trade interactions,” the report said, adding that Beijing is hoping to strangle Taiwan’s economy so that it could control “economic voters.”
It forecast that Beijing would go even further by cutting the number of cross-strait flights; reducing the number of Chinese tourists, students and investors allowed to travel to Taiwan; revoking cross-strait currency clearance; tightening financial exchanges between the two sides; and forcing Taiwanese businesspeople in China to declare their political affiliation.
Beijing is likely to threaten to terminate the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), which was signed in 2010 to reduce tariffs and commercial barriers between Taiwan and China, the report said.
On the political front, Beijing might step up its efforts through actions such as supporting a third political force to dilute support for the pro-Taiwanese independence pan-green camp and orchestrating incidents that would jeopardize social order in Taiwan, it said.
Meanwhile, China would continue to conduct military exercises that simulate attacks on Taiwan and sail its warships close to the nation, it added.
The council recommended that the government take measures to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty and democracy, diversify foreign relations, bolster national defense and stem the circulation of misinformation to prevent infiltration by China.
At the meeting, NSC Secretary-General David Lee (李大維), citing President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), said that the government is strongly opposed to the “one country, two systems” formula proposed by Beijing and refuses to accept any “transitional arrangement” that would force unification.
In reference to the report noting that Beijing could support a third political force to dilute support for the Democratic Progressive Party, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who last month founded the Taiwan People’s Party, yesterday said that the report “might just as well straightforwardly brand itself as a campaigning report.”
China would not dare meddle in Taiwan’s elections, because doing so has backfired every time since the nation’s first direct presidential election in 1996, Ko said.
Presidential Office spokesman Ting Yun-kung (丁允恭) said that the report was an analysis of the situation and is unrelated to domestic politics.
Additional reporting by Shen Pei-yao and Chen Yu-fu
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS