China’s Fujian Province on Monday began implementing 15 economic measures targeting Taiwanese in its latest bid to fan pro-Beijing sentiment ahead of the Jan. 13 elections.
Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency said the policies were part of “21 measures” unveiled in September by China for Fujian’s “integrated cross-strait development demonstration zone.”
The partially implemented measures, which were created with input from Beijing, include reducing the wait time for Taiwanese applying for a visa from 20 days to five days and free public transit for Taiwanese older than 65, it said.
Photo: AP
Residents of Taiwan were granted use of the “all provincial Taiwanese entrepreneur compatriot financial and credit certification online management platform,” Xinhua said.
Agricultural loans for Taiwanese farmers were enhanced, while a patent scheme was established for businesses based in Kinmen or Lienchiang counties, or otherwise registered in China’s Fujian province, it said.
The measures also included rent waivers and housing subsidies for start-ups, with 2,000 housing units supposedly being offered at prioritized locations, with expanded recognition of Taiwanese professional certificates, it said.
A program was created to support 100 collaborative projects between Taiwanese and Chinese by furnishing subsidies to architects and creative industries, with three template counties, 13 template townships and 13 template villages to receive money starting next year, it said.
The measures also include the creation of a Taiwan-China maritime dispute resolution center in the province, it added.
Previously, the Mainland Affairs Council described the measures as part of an “integration plan” for annexing Taiwan that was created by the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th National Congress.
The policies were an expression of China’s “wishful thinking” that it could lure Taiwanese and Taiwanese businesses into placing themselves under China’s legal and institutional control, which ultimately means accepting communist rule, the council said.
Beijing’s ability to make good on the economic promises of the 21 measures are questionable in light of China’s economic doldrums, including a collapsing housing market, youth unemployment, weak consumer spending and systemic risks in its financial sector, it said.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS