The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) criticized moves by China to force Taiwanese businessmen to support the `one China' policy, saying Beijing should not politicize economic exchanges.
"China should immediately stop politicizing cross-strait economic and trade interactions," council Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) said yesterday at the council's weekly press conference.
Chen made the remarks in response to a question about new regulations announced on Thursday by China's Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council (
According to the official Xinhua News Agency, among all the new regulations, one article stipulates that those in charge of associations for Taiwanese businesspeople must recognize the "one China" principle.
Chen said the regulation hinders the normalization of cross-strait interaction.
While saying that the council would study details of the new regulations, Chen called on China not to politicize cross-strait economic interactions.
"China has recently stated that it hopes politics won't interfere with cross-strait economic interaction," Chen said.
"If it is true that China is adopting such an inappropriate measure by demanding that Taiwanese business leaders based in China accept its `one China' principle, then China is simply not practicing what it preaches."
Officials from the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said that "some of these new regulations are far too politicized and have interfered with the autonomy of these Taiwanese business associations."
According to the SEF, there are approximately 70 Taiwanese business associations operating in China.
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