The legislature’s Internal Administration Committee yesterday passed a resolution asking the government to ban senior Chinese government officials from buying property in Taiwan.
To prevent top Chinese officials from investing in the real estate market, the committee wants a clause added to the regulations on real estate investment by Chinese nationals to exclude communist party officials, government officials, military leaders and intelligence officers from owning property rights.
At the committee meeting, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津) asked Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) whether the government would allow Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), chairman of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), to invest in the local property market.
Jiang said if Chen filed an application, the local county or city government would review it and submit it for the central government’s approval.
“Not all applications will be approved,” Jiang said.
Since Taiwan began to open its real estate market to Chinese investment in 2002, there have been 35 applications for investment, with 10 of these — all for residential properties — approved, Chiang said.
Chiang said that of the 18 applications that were rejected, one was rejected for security reasons as it concerned property in the Boai “special district” near the Presidential Building and presidential residence.
Jiang said the government would continue to review Chinese applications carefully to prevent any security or speculation concerns.
Seven applications from China are currently under review, Jiang said.
Although Taiwan allows Chinese to invest in real estate, Beijing restricts the amount of Chinese funds flowing into Taiwan, so the number of applications have not been as high as expected, Jiang told legislators.
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