China sending more than 70,000 “New Year care packages” to overseas Chinese is an attempt to promote “united front” tactics, but would have little impact on overseas communities, Overseas Community Affairs Council Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said today.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is constantly employing new tactics to “win over” overseas Chinese, particularly during the Lunar New Year, Hsu said.
Last year, “Spring Festival” was added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Hsu reported to the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign and National Defense Committee.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
However, debate remains about whether to translate the holiday as “Spring Festival” as on the UNESCO Web site, or as “Chinese New Year” or “Lunar New Year.”
China is using the debate over terminology as a battleground for “united front” tactics, the report said.
China is also using Spring Festival events as propaganda, organizing extravagant celebrations and inviting local government officials and industry leaders to showcase its national and cultural influence, it said.
In recent years, China’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council has coordinated with overseas embassies and consulates to send more than 70,000 “care packages” containing traditional Lunar New Year items to overseas Chinese communities, with the number of packages slowly increasing year-on-year, it said.
The incentive is heavily promoted on Chinese-language media to showcase China’s care for overseas citizens and promote a sense of connection to China, it said.
During the Lunar New Year, Chinese diplomats often visit traditional overseas associations to offer gifts and monetary donations — tokens of goodwill that are difficult to refuse and thereby reinforce ties with China, the council said.
Lunar New Year events hosted by Taiwan instead focus on cultural heritage and promoting traditional values, such as encouraging families to spend time together, exchange New Year’s greetings, light lanterns and hang spring couplets, it said.
The Taiwanese approach also explains the cultural significance of the Lunar New Year and the Lantern Festival to strengthen overseas Taiwanese's connection to Taiwan, it said.
On the other hand, the CCP’s monetary gifts and tokens are of little significance, as most overseas Chinese are financially well-off and awareness of CCP infiltration tactics is rising, she said.
Therefore, only a small proportion of overseas Chinese in Belt and Road Initiative countries would be susceptible to CCP influence, she said, but added that the council would monitor the situation closely.
As the council’s budget has faced cuts and freezes this year, some projects may be affected, she said.
The CCP may therefore have more opportunities to buy support from overseas Chinese, although the impact of the “care packages” in particular is not a point of concern, she added.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS