Beijing’s special task force handling Taiwan affairs has set up 29 corporations and business entities to facilitate cross-strait unification efforts, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said.
The report focuses on the organizational structure and personnel handling Taiwan affairs in China.
The task force, known as the Central Leading Group on Taiwan Affairs, was created to coordinate eight government departments handling Taiwan affairs in China, the report said.
Photo: REUTERS
It operates through two offices, including China’s Central Taiwan Affairs Office (CTAO) and Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO).
In 1956, members of the task force included senior Chinese officials in charge of “united front work,” investigation, political messaging, public safety, diplomacy, overseas Chinese affairs and military affairs. The focus of the task force then was to induce high-ranking military and political officials in Taiwan to defect and achieve cross-strait unification through a partnership between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the report said.
Members of the task force underwent a large-scale adjustment after the 20th National Congress of the CCP in October 2022, when Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) secured an unprecedented third term through a constitutional amendment.
Aside from Xi being the chief of the task force, Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧) served as the deputy chief, the report said.
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅), TAO Director Song Tao (宋濤) and other high-ranking Chinese political and military officials serve as members, it said.
Members representing the Chinese military could include Chinese Lieutenant General Jing Jianfeng (景建峰), given his previous remarks on Taiwan during the Shangri-La Dialogue in 2023, the report said.
The report also said that the TAO relied heavily on research by the Research Center on Cross-Strait Relations, which was created by the office in September 2000.
The center has since recruited experts from within the CCP, the Chinese military, social studies institutions and universities, with specialties ranging from politics, economics, law, military, military, history, social studies, journalism and international relations, the report said.
Experts at the center mainly engage in technical and strategic research on unification-related issues, it said.
The research center would also regularly hold forums on cross-strait relations and “one country, two systems,” to which Taiwanese experts would be invited as well, the report said.
The report disclosed a list of 29 Chinese corporations and business entities that the CTAO owns, which was published by the TAO in October 2023. They include international trade firms, real-estate development firms, investment consulting firms, manufacturing companies, travel agencies, publication houses, an automobile maintenance center, an advertisement and exposition service operator, record company, and a film production firm.
The study also examined spokespersons in TAO. Former TAO spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光), who now serves as vice president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, was a participant in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, the report said.
TAO spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華), a native of Fujian Province, was a Xinhua news agency correspondent in Taiwan and can speak Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) fluently, it said.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS