In preparation for its centennial on July 1, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has begun a “united front” offensive to influence Taiwanese public opinion to force officials to lift restrictions on cross-strait exchanges, an official said yesterday.
The CCP has been preparing events for the milestone anniversary, for which it reportedly plans to invite “certain” political parties and people from Taiwan.
Cross-strait interactions have stalled since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, although the government has announced plans to restart regular exchanges.
Photo: AP
Despite the resumption of business travel in March and a Mainland Affairs Council plan presented last month to gradually restore regular exchanges, Beijing has said that the scope is too limited.
China has been pushing measures to resume travel.
China’s Fujian Province is preparing to launch a trial scheme that would shorten quarantine requirements for certain Taiwanese travelers from 14 days to two, although it was postponed from its original start date, today, given Taiwan’s increase in domestic cases.
The council has warned that the scheme is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) plan to assimilate Taiwanese through economics, preferential treatment and feelings of affinity.
Upcoming events such as the centennial and the annual Straits Forum, as well as unilateral efforts to ease travel restrictions, show that a new “united front” offensive has already begun, an official involved in cross-strait affairs said yesterday.
COVID-19 vaccines would almost certainly be used to influence travel policy, they said.
The CCP plans to spread propaganda blasting Taiwan for lacking vaccines while boasting of China’s five domestic options, including one approved by the WHO, and the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine, the official said.
Certain media are sure to stir discontent by emphasizing that Taiwanese traveling to China do not need to quarantine, but must isolate for 14 days upon their return, they added.
From this, the CCP hopes to pressure the government into acknowledging Chinese vaccines and shortening quarantine times, they said.
It also hopes that its shorter quarantine requirements would encourage Kinmen and Matsu residents to pressure the government into reopening the “small three links,” the official said.
In addition, Beijing is likely to remove quarantine requirements for Taipei city officials to attend the twin cities forum in Shanghai this year, the official said.
Its “united front” ploy is clear, delayed only by a recent uptick in cases, they added.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Restarting the No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant would take up to 18 months, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said today. Kuo was answering questions during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee, where legislators are considering amendments to the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條) amid concerns about the consequences of the Pingtung County reactor’s decommissioning scheduled for May 17. Its decommissioning is to mark the end of Taiwan’s nuclear power production. However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) that would extend the life of existing