A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker yesterday urged the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to rethink its appointment of a China-born businesswoman to the party’s Central Standing Committee, saying it poses a national security threat.
Qin Pengzhen (勤彭蓁), a native of Sichuan Province, was one of 29 new members elected to the committee on Saturday, and assumed the role on Wednesday.
Qin married a Taiwanese man and moved to Taiwan at the age of 18, and has split her time between Taiwan and China, where she has run businesses in Yunnan Province, news reports said, adding that while she has acquired residency in Taiwan, she retains her Chinese nationality.
Photo: CNA
Qin has been a high-profile member of the Chinese business community, having been director of a Yunnan travel agency promoting tourism and cultural exchanges with Taiwan, and chairwoman of a Taiwan business association in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan.
She has also set up platforms to assist young Taiwanese entrepreneurs to start businesses in Yunnan, news reports said.
She was deputy chair of the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland, which China’s Taiwan Affairs Office established in 2007, the reports said.
Chinese state media have touted Qin as working to bridge cross-straits relations, while promoting peace and economic development.
In conferences and talks, Qin has called on people to follow Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) political ideology to implement “socialism with Chinese characteristics,” and has shown support for unification, news reports said.
DPP Legislator Chen Pei-yu (陳培瑜) said it is worrying to see Qin joining the KMT’s decisionmaking body, as she could push for policies that interfere in Taiwan’s democracy.
Chen said that while she understands that Qin was elected to the committee by KMT party members, Qin has previously discussed her ideological views, which align with those of China’s central leadership and run contrary to Taiwan’s constitutional framework and democratic system.
Qin would have an influential role on KMT policymaking and campaigning for this year’s local elections, political science professor Fan Shih-ping (范世平) said.
KMT Legislator Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲) said that if members contravene the party’s charter guidelines, or if there are questions raised by their actions or statements, the KMT’s disciplinary committee would address it.
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