Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源) has revealed a document purported to be from within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) describing a program to offer cash rewards to people who act as an intermediary to recruit Taiwanese to open businesses in China’s Fujian Province.
On Sunday night, Chen, whose stage name is Mannam PYC (閩南狼), posted a video on YouTube in which he described how Taiwan Youth Entrepreneurship Park head Lin Jincheng (林金城) allegedly earned up to 2 million yuan (US$273,418) by acting as an intermediary for the CCP to recruit Taiwanese for the park in Quanzhou in China’s Fujian Province.
The video is part of a series of videos that Chen and Taiwanese YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) have been releasing since last month on China’s “united front” tactics.
Photo: Screen grab from Chen Po-yuan’s YouTube channel
In one of the earlier videos, Lin told Pa and Chen that Taiwanese could apply for China’s national citizen identification card to register a company in the country and start a cross-border e-commerce business, purchase property or obtain bank loans.
In his latest video, Chen showed documents provided by Lin that detailed how a person could be rewarded for their recruiting efforts.
If a person recruited more than 20 businesses to open in Fujian and operate for at least a year, or if they convinced 60 Taiwanese to station at the park for a year, they would receive 2 million yuan.
If a person recruited 50 new businesses to the province or 100 or more people for the park, the bonus would increase to 5 million yuan.
In related news, a senior Taiwanese official said China’s efforts to entice more Taiwanese to get permits to live and work in China is prompting concern in Taipei that Beijing could be laying the groundwork to justify intervention in Taiwan’s affairs.
China’s efforts to promote the residence permit have intensified in the past few months, especially when it comes to targeting Taiwanese wo have never traveled to China, said the official, who asked not to be identified discussing a sensitive matter.
Taiwanese officials are concerned holders of the permit would be easier to convince to apply for a Chinese ID card and to swap their passports for those issued by Beijing, the official said.
They worry that could in turn be used by the Chinese government to justify the need to “protect Chinese citizens” in Taiwan, the official said.
In 2018, Beijing introduced the residence permit specifically for people from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau to make it easier for holders to live and work in China. The permit also grants access to financial services and social benefits, and can be obtained without those from Taiwan having to renounce their Taiwanese citizenship.
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