China is trying to exert political pressure on Taiwanese companies, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday, criticizing Beijing after it last week fined two Far Eastern Group firms over alleged breaches at factories in China.
However, Far Eastern Group chairman Douglas Hsu (徐旭東) warned against what he said was a prevailing tendency in Taiwan to be critical of anything related to China.
The Chinese leadership has put pressure on Taiwan and tried to use its economic strength to wield political power, Su told reporters before a sports technology meeting in Taipei when asked about the fines.
Photo: CNA
He accused Beijing of being “overbearing,” and having a poor grasp of democracy and diversity.
Far Eastern Group companies Far East New Century and Asia Cement on Monday last week were fined a combined 88.62 million yuan (US$13.89 million) for alleged contraventions of safety and other rules at factories in five Chinese provinces.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) said that the breaches involved environmental, occupational health, land use, plant safety, fire safety and tax issues.
TAO spokesperson Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) hinted that politics might have been involved in Beijing’s decision to impose the penalties.
China “will absolutely not allow people who support Taiwanese independence or destroy cross-Taiwan Strait relations — who dare bite the hand that feeds them — to make money in the mainland,” Zhu said.
However, in a statement on the TAO’s Web site four days later, Zhu said that the fines were based on Chinese regulations.
She accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government of politicizing the issue.
The two companies said in separate statements last week that they would pay the fines and other penalties as required, but Hsu on Tuesday offered the first response from the group level.
In a United Daily News letter to the editor, Hsu said that he had long opposed Taiwanese independence and hoped the cross-strait “status quo” would be maintained.
This position is in line with mainstream public opinion in Taiwan, he said.
A poll conducted by the Mainland Affairs Council last month showed that 84.9 percent of 1,072 respondents supported maintaining the “status quo.”
Hsu also expressed concern over what he described as a growing trend in Taiwan toward opposing or criticizing anything China-related.
Taiwanese enterprises that have business operations and investment in China are burdened with a sense of guilt in the political climate in Taiwan, he said, adding that political ideology should be set aside to allow “reasonable understanding and judgements” of the Chinese market.
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