More than 200,000 Taiwanese living in China are likely to return in January next year to cast their votes in the joint presidential and legislative elections, a leading Taiwanese investor in China said.
Kuo Shan-hui (郭山輝), president of the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland, said after a closed-door meeting with Straits Exchange Foundation officials in Taipei on Monday that Taiwanese investors in China are more interested in next year’s elections than last year’s nine-in-one elections.
He estimated that more than 200,000 Taiwanese businesspeople would return to vote in January, more than the number who did so for the polls in November last year.
Many China-based businesspeople said during the meeting that they hoped the government would help facilitate their travel to exercise their civil rights, including offering preferential air fares, Kuo said.
Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Lin Join-sane (林中森) said that the government would encourage airlines to increase the number of flights across the Taiwan Strait ahead of the elections.
“As to preferential air fares, that is up to the individual airlines,” he said.
“We will be offering neutral services to all those wishing to return home to vote, regardless of which candidate they support in the presidential race,” Lin added.
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