Archive for ‘one China’

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04/11/2019

Beijing extends sweeteners for Taiwanese weeks before Taipei election

  • Latest measures grant island’s people and enterprises more equal treatment with their mainland counterparts
  • Package in March last year was dismissed by Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council as an attempt to buy political support
Taipei’s elections in January could influence the tone of cross-strait relations. Photo: EPA-EFE
Taipei’s elections in January could influence the tone of cross-strait relations. Photo: EPA-EFE
Beijing announced a series of sweeteners for Taiwanese businesses and individuals on Monday – including participation in its 5G research and allowing Taiwanese to use mainland consular services – only two months before Taiwan’s critical presidential election.
The latest 26 measures drawn up by 20 government departments, including the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office and the National Development and Reform Commission, are designed to attract more Taiwanese to live and work in mainland China, despite worsening cross-strait relations.
But Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council criticised the move as an attempt by the Chinese Communist Party to “divide Taiwan internally, and was a further reflection of attempts to try to interfere in and influence Taiwan’s election”.
It follows a similar package of 31 measures unveiled by Beijing in March last year, which included tax incentives, preferential land-use policies for Taiwanese businesses on the mainland and benefits for Taiwanese individuals in studying or living on the mainland.
Taiwan charges pro-Beijing politicians with accepting mainland cash
The latest measures to grant Taiwan-funded enterprises more equal treatment with their mainland counterparts include offering access to research and development in 5G technology, investment in passenger and cargo air services, the establishment of microlending and financing companies and the right to apply for financial guarantees from local government funds.

Taiwanese individuals will also be officially entitled to mainland Chinese consular protection abroad, will be treated the same as their mainland counterparts when buying residential property on the mainland, and will be able to train in Beijing for the 2020 Olympic Games.

Beijing claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan, and has not renounced the use of force to take the democratic island into its fold. Beijing’s ruling Communist Party has stressed its intention to promote “peaceful reunification”, pledging in its communique from the fourth plenary meeting of the party’s elite last week to “deepen cross-strait integration and development” while opposing Taiwanese independence.
The latest measures from Beijing came ahead of Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections in January. Relations across the Taiwan Strait have been frozen under the administration of independence-leaning Taiwanese President, ostensibly over her refusal to accept the “1992 consensus”, or the understanding that there is only “one China” – something that Beijing considers a prerequisite for any talks with Taipei.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said on Monday that the roll-out of the 26 measures one year later was intended to “cover up” the fact that the 31 measures had not been executed properly, and reflected administrative problems on the mainland amid slowing economic growth.

“Even more than that, it also reflects that during this period Taiwanese people have rejected ‘one country, two systems’ and do not agree with the results of the Communist Party’s united front divisions,” the council said.

“We urge the Communist Party officials to specifically implement protections for Taiwanese businesses and Taiwanese people in their investments and lives.”

Joseph Wu, Taipei’s foreign minister, also responded with a tweet written in simplified Chinese – which is used on the mainland – rather than the traditional Chinese used in Taiwan.

“China’s Taiwan Affairs Office came out with 26 measures and last year there were 31 – it looks like there are so many measures,” he wrote. “But we in Taiwan do not need one country, two systems, so there is really no need to be so polite. Giving your people more freedom is also good!”

Ongoing anti-government protests in Hong Kong – which is semi-autonomous from Beijing under the one country, two systems model – have highlighted for many Taiwanese voters the threat from Beijing to the island’s sovereignty.
The latest polling by the MAC found that 89 per cent of respondents opposed the one country, two systems framework that Beijing proposed for Taiwan, up from 75 per cent in a similar survey in January.
Edward I-hsin Chen, a political-science professor at Chinese Culture University in Taipei, said the impact of the 26 measures on the election would depend on how they were implemented, but that one country, two systems was clearly not palatable for Taiwanese voters, whether they supported Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) or the mainland-friendly Kuomintang (KMT).
“Taiwan, of course, will not accept one country, two systems, so these policies will need to be more long-term. Mainland officials did not handle the Hong Kong issue very well, so it will be very hard for one country, two systems in Taiwan – blue and green will both reject it,” he said, referring to the party colours for the KMT and DPP. “But it is good for Taiwanese people and businesses to be able to take part in the 5G sector, and there will be more cooperation in the future.”
Lin Chingfa, former chairman of the Beijing-based Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises, said he believed the new measures were intended to appeal to Taiwanese youth.
“A very important direction for cross-strait cooperation nowadays is to bridge the opportunities available in mainland China for young people who feel deprived from the slow Taiwanese economy. Some of these policies should be especially appealing to them because it shows that the country hopes to make it more convenient for young Taiwan people willing to come,” Lin said.
He said this approach was especially obvious in the measures that were introduced to provide equal treatment for Taiwan people on the mainland – for example the opportunities for Taiwan people to apply for scholarships and the expansion of places for Taiwanese students at universities.
Source: SCMP

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23/05/2019

U.S. Navy again sails through Taiwan Strait, angering China

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military said it sent two Navy ships through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, its latest transit through the sensitive waterway, angering China at a time of tense relations between the world’s two biggest economies.

Taiwan is one of a growing number of flashpoints in the U.S.-China relationship, which also include a bitter trade war, U.S. sanctions and China’s increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea, where the United States also conducts freedom-of-navigation patrols.

The voyage will be viewed by self-ruled Taiwan as a sign of support from the Trump administration amid growing friction between Taipei and Beijing, which views the island as a breakaway province.

The transit was carried out by the destroyer Preble and the Navy oil tanker Walter S. Diehl, a U.S. military spokesman told Reuters.

“The ships’ transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Commander Clay Doss, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet, said in a statement.

Doss said all interactions were safe and professional.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Beijing had lodged “stern representations” with the United States.
“The Taiwan issue is the most sensitive in China-U.S. relations,” he told a daily news briefing in Beijing.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said the two U.S. ships had sailed north through the Taiwan Strait and that they had monitored the mission.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said there was no cause for alarm.
“Nothing abnormal happened during it, please everyone rest assured,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
U.S. warships have sailed through the Taiwan Strait at least once a month since the start of this year. The United States restarted such missions on a regular basis last July.
The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help provide the island with the means to defend itself and is its main source of arms.
The Pentagon says Washington has sold Taipei more than $15 billion in weaponry since 2010.
China has been ramping up pressure to assert its sovereignty over the island, which it considers part of “one China” and sacred Chinese territory, to be brought under Beijing’s control by force if needed.
Beijing said a recent Taiwan Strait passage by a French warship, first reported by Reuters, was illegal.
China has repeatedly sent military aircraft and ships to circle Taiwan on exercises in the past few years and worked to isolate it internationally, whittling down its few remaining diplomatic allies.
The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency released a report earlier this year describing Taiwan as the “primary driver” for China’s military modernization, which it said had made major advances in recent years.
On Sunday, the Preble sailed near the disputed Scarborough Shoal claimed by China in the South China Sea, angering Beijing.
The state-run China Daily said in an editorial on Wednesday that China had shown “utmost restraint”.
“With tensions between the two countries already rife, there is no guarantee that the presence of U.S. warships on China’s doorstep will not spark direct confrontation between the two militaries,” it said.
Source: Reuters

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15/02/2017

‘Follow one-China policy’: Beijing warns India over Taiwan delegation | This Week In Asia | South China Morning Post

China has lodged a strong complaint with India over a rare visit by a Taiwanese parliamentary delegation, warning New Delhi to follow one-China policy and refrain from any official contacts with Taipei.

Sharply criticising the visit, foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shung said Beijing had lodged a “solemn representation” with New Delhi to not have any official contact with Taiwan.

Beijing has always opposed any kind of official contact between Taiwan and countries that have diplomatic ties with China, he said.

Why Trump can’t ‘haggle’ over the one-China policy

Geng spoke against any proposal to upgrade India-Taiwan ties, and warned India to be strict about following the one-China policy and be “prudent” about its ties with Taiwan.India has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The de facto Indian embassy in Taipei is called the India-Taipei Association and the Taiwanese maintain the Taipei Economic Cultural Center in New Delhi.

A three-member parliamentary delegation from Taiwan arrived in India on Monday for a three-day visit. The leader of the delegation, Kuan Bi-Ling, said Taiwan is “totally independent”.

“It (the one-China policy) is a de facto reality…We suffered a lot because of the one-China policy. We have crafted a pragmatic approach in our diplomatic engagement with major countries, including India, despite these difficulties,” Kuan told the Indian media.Hosting an official delegation from Taiwan appears to be a shift in Indian policy. In May last year, India had reportedly backtracked from sending representatives to the swearing-in ceremony of then Taiwanese president-elect Tsai Ing-wen. The visit of the Taiwanese delegation is a possible sign that both countries are attempting to increase political engagement without New Delhi moving away from the one-China policy.No country is exempt from one-China principle, says Beijing

In September 2015, before she became Taiwan’s first woman president, Tsai had spoken about India being in focus for her country to strengthen ties.“Asean and India are poised to become two of the world’s largest economic bodies. Strengthening our overall relations is a natural choice for Taiwan as we diversify our economic and trade ties. In the future, we will form a new task force to actively pursue this policy objective,” Tsai had said in a key speech at the time.

The New Southbound Policy Office, which directly functions under the president, will focus on strengthening all-round ties with Asean and South Asia, particularly India, Taiwanese diplomats had then told the Hindustan Times.

Earlier on Wednesday, nationalistic tabloid Global Times said India is playing with fire and will suffer if it challenges the one-China policy and increases engagement with Taiwan.

How a snub of the one-China policy almost led Beijing and US into war in the 1990s

“At a time when new US President Donald Trump has put the brakes on challenging China over the Taiwan question, agreeing to change course and respecting the one-China policy, India stands out as a provocateur,” it said. “Some Indians view the Taiwan question as an Achilles’ heel of the mainland. India has long wanted to use the Taiwan question, the South China Sea and Dalai Lama issues as bargaining chips in dealing with China,” writer Yu Ning wrote in an opinion piece for the newspaper.

“By challenging China over the Taiwan question, India is playing with fire,” Yu wrote.

The newspaper blamed Tsai for inciting India.“Tsai is exploiting India’s vigilance and strategic suspicions against China. The pro-independence leader came up with the ”new southbound policy” to ramp up trade and economic interactions in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Oceania, in which India is considered “not one of the, but the most” important country…Tsai hopes to put pressure on the mainland by tying India and Taiwan closer.”

Source: ‘Follow one-China policy’: Beijing warns India over Taiwan delegation | This Week In Asia | South China Morning Post

Posted in China alert, Chindia Alert, Diplomacy, Economics, Foreign invasion, History, India alert, Neighbour conflict, one China, Politics, Trade | Leave a Comment »

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