A Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official expressed opposition yesterday to Beijing's plan to develop China's Fujian Province into a "peaceful cooperation experimental district on the west coast of the Taiwan Strait," known in its shortened form as the "Haixi District development plan."
MAC Chief Secretary Jan Jyh-horng (詹志宏) said during a colloquium that Beijing's plan -- put forward by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) during the National People's Congress held earlier this month -- is aimed at enticing more Taiwanese businesses and industries to relocate their operations to Fujian, a move that will be detrimental to Taiwan's overall industrial development in the long run.
Jan said he doubts the feasibility of the plan, pointing out that while promoting a plan to woo Taiwanese investors, Beijing has repeatedly stressed its "one China" policy and WTO regulations -- two mutually contradictory ideas.
He said that the greatest barrier to the development of cross-strait relations is that the two sides cannot engage in normal dialogue, adding that although the MAC has made strenuous efforts to resume long-stalled cross-strait dialogue, the efforts and related calls have fallen on deaf ears in China.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is aware that Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong has weakened any possible sentiment for a “one country, two systems” arrangement for Taiwan, and has instructed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politburo member Wang Huning (王滬寧) to develop new ways of defining cross-strait relations, Japanese news magazine Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. A former professor of international politics at Fu Dan University, Wang is expected to develop a dialogue that could serve as the foundation for cross-strait unification, and Xi plans to use the framework to support a fourth term as president, Nikkei Asia quoted an anonymous source
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