China is forcing Taiwanese businesspeople to attend an economic summit between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a top Mainland Affairs Council official said yesterday.
Council Chairman Joseph Wu (
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) reported yesterday that the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of China's State Council had issued an order to the heads of more than 80 Taiwanese business associations in China to attend the forum.
The office warned that failure to comply would result in stiff penalties, the report said.
The office has also ordered Taiwanese businesses nationwide to mobilize in Xiamen and Shanghai to greet former KMT chairman Lien Chan (
The Liberty Times report said that many of the associations are angry that they are being coerced to participate in what they called a meaningless event.
Wu said the Mainland Affairs Council has verified that official letters were sent to the heads of Taiwanese associations requesting they attend the forum.
"We disapprove of China's actions, which greatly bothers Taiwan's businesspeople," Wu said.
When Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) met with Lien last year, Chinese officials only demanded that Taiwanese businesspeople in Shanghai show up to support Lien's visit.
According to the Liberty Times story, Hu then hosted a banquet for more than 100 Taiwanese businesspeople, but made a quick exit along with other top Chinese officials, leaving his "guests" to foot the bill.
Wu also warned the KMT yesterday that the Mainland Affairs Council will not recognize any conclusions reached at forum on issues that involve government authority such as cross-strait charter flights.
"Taiwanese officials' participation cannot be ruled out for any negotiations that require governmental authority. Otherwise they [such negotiations] would be illegal and ineffective," Wu said.
He said China is using a "carrot and stick" strategy, only it was just paying "lip service" instead of carrots. Most of its promises or goodwill attempts are "not true," he said.
"But the `stick part' that China is implementing could not be more genuine," he said. "Its suppression of Taiwan's diplomatic space and its military build-up never stop."
Wu said that Beijing continues to take advantage of the confrontation between Taiwan's ruling and opposition parties and manipulates the conflicts in order to divide this country and besmirch its sovereignty.
"Coupling military threats and sweeteners is China's new strategy for dealing with Taiwan," Wu said.
In response to pan-green criticism about the CCP-KMT forum, KMT caucus whip Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛) called on the government not to thwart an effort to boost the economy and rescue the poor.
"The five issues for the forum -- advancing cross-strait economic and financial exchanges and agricultural cooperation, opening Taiwan to Chinese tourists, and implementation of direct links -- are irrelevant to politics," Pan said.
Given that the government has made pursuing independence its priority and has no ideas to boost the economy, the KMT is obliged to take initiative to improve cross-strait relations, Pan said.
KMT Legislator Kuo Su-chun (
"[The pan-green camp] is incapable of improving cross-strait relations, and so they do not want to see other people succeed," he said.
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucus whip David Huang (
Huang urged Lien to make public this week's discussions with Hu upon this return. He also said the former KMT boss must protest China's military threats toward Taiwan.
TSU Secretary-General Lo Chih-ming (
Lo also criticized the government, saying it was "incredible' that an administration with an "active management and effective opening" policy would allow Lien to go to Beijing again.
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