With the combined legislative and presidential elections in January and their outcome a key factor in the development of cross-strait issues, China has been moving to influence the outcome, a Taiwan Merchant Association (TMA) member said last week.
The TMA member said China mobilized its contacts within the association in the middle of last month and the beginning of this month, hoping to persuade Taiwanese businesspeople to return to Taiwan and make “political donations” in “support of a party that would help develop the cross-strait economy.”
The invitations were presented as informal get-togethers, but for all intents and purposes they were more like an order to mobilize election support, said a TMA member who requested not to be identified.
“It told us they ‘hoped’ we could ‘take action’ and participate in elections that will have a direct impact on cross-strait developments,” the member said. “It said such support on our part would not only be helping the Chinese authorities, but Taiwanese merchants as well.”
Fully aware of the Chinese government’s stance with the request, Taiwanese businesspeople have delegated the job of keeping close watch on the newest developments in the election campaign to measure how much “political donations” would be required.
However, some companies have received not-so-subtle hints of how much they should donate and the timeframe of donation “would be best around the end of October to the beginning of November,” the TMA member said.
The businessman said although he had already made preparations for political donations, being given a limit and “requested to [make a donation]” made him very uncomfortable, adding that the sum asked of him would be the income of several days work, meaning he would be working for several days without getting anything.
The member said all members of the TMA or similar associations always had a limit for the amount of political donations, adding that the person chairing the TMA in the local province would be asked to donate more.
The member also said that the association and other similar organizations were one step down from the Members of the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland (ATIEM), whose members were expected to make more “donations” than non-ATIEM investors.
A Taiwanese investor who requested anonymity said in the past he would return to Taiwan and make political donations, adding that “I’m a member of the party; donating to the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] is the right thing to do.”
However, the investor declined to say whether he had received the “request” from Chinese authorities.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
RSS