Taiwanese who do business in China should exercise caution, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, after China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) announced a new policy to attract individual investors and entrepreneurs.
At a news conference in Beijing, TAO spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) said that Taiwanese could register as individuals engaged in 122 categories — up from 24 categories — of industrial or commercial activity in specified areas of China.
Taiwanese operating out of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong Province or one of 24 other provinces or municipalities in China would be eligible to register directly with the Chinese government to invest or engage in entrepreneurship in the specified categories, Zhu said.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
The Chinese policy, which follows the “31 incentives” for Taiwanese students and businesspeople announced by Beijing in 2018, is evidence that “China’s philosophy of both sides of the Taiwan Strait being one family will not change,” she said.
The policy is part of a pilot program by the Chinese government to spur innovation in trade and the services industry, while “offering support to Taiwanese compatriots, particularly young people, who wish to engage in entrepreneurship” in China, she said.
In Taipei, the council said that policies implemented by the Chinese Communist Party have been detrimental to the business environment in China, and that Taiwanese should anticipate heightened supervision, energy restrictions and the promotion of state-owned enterprises over private entities.
Amid heightened tensions across the Taiwan Strait, there is also the risk of Taiwanese in China being identified as financiers of Taiwanese independence, the council said.
Taiwanese planning to enter the Chinese market should carefully consider these factors and evaluate the situation before doing so, it said.
While the new Chinese policy is unlikely to attract a large number of Taiwanese, the council said that it would continue to monitor developments.
The council reminded Taiwanese that laws and social values in China are “very different” from those in Taiwan, and that people planning to operate out of China should “exercise caution.”
Separately, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Mei-hui (王美惠) criticized the new Chinese policy, saying that it is another example of Beijing “promoting unification through economics.”
The policy ultimately aims to defraud Taiwanese investors in China, Wang said.
“Beijing already messes with large corporations operating in China,” she said. “Now individual investors there will also lose their shirts.”
China steals talent and technology from Taiwanese by attracting them to the country through the false pretense of offering beneficial conditions, she said.
“It is not easy to make money in China, particularly now that China is in an economic downturn,” she said.
“That is why many Taiwanese businesspeople have over the past few years been bringing their investment money back home,” she added.
ECONOMIC RESILIENCE: Only 11.4 percent of Taiwan’s overseas investments last year were in China, and businesses are dispersing their investments elsewhere, Lai said China’s ambition to annex Taiwan is based on a desire to change the rules-based international order, rather than a desire for territorial gains, President William Lai (賴清德) said in an interview. During an appearance on the talk show The View With Catherine Chang, aired last night, Lai said China aimed to achieve hegemony, and that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait was an issue of worldwide concern. During the interview, Lai also discussed his “four-pillar plan” for peace and prosperity, which he first outlined in an article published by the Wall Street Journal on July 4 last year. That
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
Thirty Taiwanese firms, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), yesterday launched a silicon photonics industry alliance, aiming to accelerate the medium’s development and address the energy efficiency of artificial intelligence (AI) devices like data centers. As the world is ushering in a new AI era with tremendous demand for computing power and algorithms, energy consumption is emerging as a critical issue, TSMC vice president of integrated interconnect and packaging business C.K. Hsu (徐國晉) told a media briefing in Taipei. To solve this issue, it is essential to introduce silicon photonics and copackaged optics (CPO)
The High Court yesterday overturned a Taipei District Court decision to release Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and sent the case back to the lower court. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday questioned Ko amid a probe into alleged corruption involving the Core Pacific City development project during his time as Taipei mayor. Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心), was a shopping mall in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) that has since been demolished. On Monday, the Taipei District Court granted a second motion by Ko’s attorney to release him without bail, a decision the prosecutors’ office appealed
RSS