Beijing has launched a propaganda campaign targeting China-based Taiwanese businesses in an attempt to sway the outcome of next year’s presidential election, National Cheng Kung University professor of political science Hung Chin-fu (洪敬富) said yesterday.
China is trying to curb the exodus of Taiwanese businesses amid its trade spat with the US, Hung said, adding that more than 300 Taiwanese companies have signed up for an information session about Beijing’s Greater Bay Area project.
Announced in February, the project aims to integrate the economies of Hong Kong and Macau with nine cities in neighboring Guangdong Province.
China wants Taiwanese companies to participate in the project to gain leverage in the trade dispute and manipulate the outcome of the election, he said.
Beijing has been promoting the project as a demonstration of the merits of its “one country, two systems” formula, and has invited several Taiwanese politicians to visit the cities targeted by the project and discuss its implementation.
Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) have visited the area, and New Party Chairman Yok Mu-ming (郁慕明) last month visited Beijing, where he discussed the project, local media have reported.
China has also invited Taiwanese media companies to the area and plans to invite Taiwanese students to participate in co-ops this summer, Hung said.
Beijing has been trying to convince Taiwanese that the nation’s economy can only grow if it is tied to China’s and that this could only happen if they elect a president who supports the “one China, two systems” formula, he said.
China is gearing up for a protracted trade dispute with the US and hopes that the project will alleviate domestic concerns, while also showing Washington that it is “not afraid to fight,” Hung said.
Beijing’s efforts to lure Taiwanese firms into investing in the project amid a mass exodus of foreign investors and capital clearly shows that China is in crisis, Academia Sinica Institute of Sociology research fellow Lin Thung-hong (林宗弘) said.
Beijing’s ultimate goal is unification with Taiwan under the “one country, two systems” framework and the trade spat wold not have any effect on that, said international relations researcher Chang Kuo-cheng (張國城), who is also deputy dean of general education at Taipei Medical University.
If the project does not offer any significant new incentives, Taiwanese firms would not be easily convinced to invest in it, he added.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
Taiwan next year plans to launch its first nationwide census on elderly people living independently to identify the estimated 700,000 seniors to strengthen community-based healthcare and long-term care services, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said on the sidelines of a healthcare seminar that the nation’s rapidly aging population and declining birthrate have made the issue of elderly people living alone increasingly pressing. The survey, to be jointly conducted by the MOHW and the Ministry of the Interior, aims to establish baseline data and better allocate care resources, he
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