The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) urged China yesterday not to mix politics with business in response to an editorial in the Communist Party's mouthpiece People's Daily that Beijing does not welcome pro-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) businesspeople.
The editorial accused Hsu Wen-lung (
MAC Chairman Joseph Wu (
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
"Beijing's deeds should be consistent with its words," Wu said.
China has a political motive in ordering its official media outlet to carry a front-page editorial attacking Hsu, who is also a senior advisor to President Chen Shui-bian (
The council is watching to see whether the attack on Hsu is an isolated case, Chiu said.
"Beijing has said it would not politicize trade issues. It should abide by its word and protect Taiwanese businesspeople's investments in China, rather than causing unnecessary trouble for them," Chiu said.
Hsu said yesterday he was not surprised Beijing has again singled him out for character assassination. After the 2000 presidential election, Hsu's petrochemical plant in Jiangsu Province encountered problems with unannounced "audits" and "environmental management" inspections from Chinese officials.
"I respect China's right to exercise its freedom of speech. But for the benefit of global economic development, I wish Beijing could separate politics from trade in handling its relationship with Taiwan," the businessman said.
To boost the competitiveness of Taiwanese businesses based in China, Hsu has been lobbying for the implementation of the three cross-strait direct links -- trade, transportation and postal services.
Hsu also defended himself against the newspaper's accusation that he used money he made in China to further his "other aims."
"Decades ago, Taiwan's cheap labor attracted US and Japanese companies to use Taiwan as a production base. Their investment helped create an economic miracle in Taiwan," said Hsu.
"Now Taiwan is using China and Vietnam as production bases. That should create win-win situations for Taiwan, China and Vietnam. Cross-strait trade will only suffer if Taiwan and China keep emphasizing their political differences," he added.
Frank Liao (
"Many years ago, Mr. Hsu decided to retire at the age of 70. He resigned from the Chi Mei Corporation on May 10, and plans to retire as chairman of Chi Mei Optoelectronics on June 15," Liao said.
Wang Ya-kang (汪雅康), secretary-general of the Chinese National Federation of Industries, the members of which have investments in China, said it remains to be seen whether the report would affect pro-DPP Taiwanese businesspeople's operations in China.
"We need to observe whether China's policies towards Taiwanese businesspeople will be in line with what the report said ... We wish politics would not be mixed with business," Wang said.
The DPP criticized China for trying to force Chen Shui-bian to accept the "one China" principle by oppressing Taiwanese businessmen based in China.
The pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) praised Hsu's political stance and said he set a good example for China- based Taiwanese businesspeople.
Meanwhile, the newspaper's editorial triggered heated discussions on the Web site of China's state-run Xinhua agency.
Online users listed the names of more than 20 Taiwanese singers and entertainers in an Internet chat room, calling for Chinese fans to boycott products and concerts, saying that they were pro-green camp figures.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
THE TOUR: Pope Francis has gone on a 12-day visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. He was also invited to Taiwan The government yesterday welcomed Pope Francis to the Asia-Pacific region and said it would continue extending an invitation for him to visit Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the remarks as Pope Francis began a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Monday. He is to travel about 33,000km by air to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, and would arrive back in Rome on Friday next week. It would be the longest and most challenging trip of Francis’ 11-year papacy. The 87-year-old has had health issues over the past few years and now uses a wheelchair. The ministry said
‘LEADERS’: The report highlighted C.C. Wei’s management at TSMC, Lisa Su’s decisionmaking at AMD and the ‘rock star’ status of Nvidia’s Huang Time magazine on Thursday announced its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI), which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰). The list is divided into four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers and Thinkers. Wei and Huang were named in the Leaders category. Other notable figures in the Leaders category included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Su was listed in the Innovators category. Time highlighted Wei’s
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
RSS