Former Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (TEEMA) chairman Richard Wu (吳思鍾) yesterday called for suspension of cross-strait exchanges, accusing China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Song Tao (宋濤) of mistreating Taiwanese businesses.
Wu, chairman of the Kingtel Communication Corp (西陵電子), made the remarks in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) as he saying he was cheated out of a major investment in China.
Wu says he has spent 25 years seeking justice after relatives of senior Chinese Communist Party officials cheated him out of his investment in a project in Beijing.
Photo: Liao Chia-ning, Taipei Times
Wu said that his joint venture in Beijing, which involved a property of 40,000 ping (about 132,000 square meters) seized by a corrupt group associated with former Chinese public security minister Zhou Yongkang (周永康) and relatives of other officials.
“I won the lawsuit, but neither I nor the 1,650 shareholders have received a cent in compensation to this day,” he said. “The Chinese judicial system has treated the people of Taiwan unfairly and unjustly.”
Wu said he had sought assistance through various channels, including raising the matter with Chinese authorities through Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文). However, Song ignored the issue and refused to forward a letter Wu had written seeking help from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), he said.
Wu said Song is the least concerned with victimized Taiwanese businesspeople of all the directors of the TAO.
He said previous directors such as Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) and Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) paid more attention to complaints brought by Taiwanese businesspeople. Before 2016, he said, the TAO’s Coordination Bureau sent officials to Taiwan every three months to review the progress of cases involving Taiwanese businesspeople with Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs.
However, the governments on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have stopped official exchanges since 2016, he said. Many Taiwanese businesspeople who have encountered misdealings in China have sought assistance from the KMT, the Taiwan People’s Party and the Taiwan Statebuilding Party through their channels with the TAO, he said, adding that while former Taiwan Affairs Office director Liu Jieyi (劉結一) expressed concern publicly, he took no action.
Wu called on all groups and organizations in Taiwan, including the KMT, to raise the issue of challenges faced by Taiwanese businesspeople in China with officials in Beijing.
“China’s judicial system must treat the people of Taiwan fairly,” he said. “If the TAO refuses to address the persecution of Taiwanese businesspeople and people from Taiwan in China, we should suspend cross-strait exchanges.”
Wu said that he does not support Taiwan independence and has advocated peaceful, equal exchanges between Taiwan and China. Song is unfit for the position of TAO director because he believes Taiwanese businesspeople are easily bullied in China, Wu said.
Cross-strait exchanges are not something China bestows on Taiwan, he added.
When reached for comment, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Pei-yu (陳培瑜) yesterday said Wu’s experience should be taken seriously by everyone who advocates for greater cross-strait exchanges, adding that the most basic prerequisite for such exchanges is ensuring the safety, property and basic rights of Taiwanese.
Chen said the issue has gone beyond the usual blue-versus-green political divide.
Chen said that she questioned the TAO’s repeated calls for greater exchanges, integration and support for Taiwanese people.
“If Taiwanese businesspeople receive no meaningful assistance when they are mistreated and need help, it raises the question of how such exchanges could make people in Taiwan feel secure,” she said.
Chen urged the KMT, which advocates closer cross-strait ties, to take the matter seriously.
With a Taiwanese businessperson publicly appealing for help, she asked whether the KMT was willing to step forward and demand that the Chinese government provide an explanation.
No response from the KMT was available at press time.
Additional reporting by Lin Hsin-han and Lin Che-yuan
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