At a news conference after the closing of China’s annual National People’s Congress legislative session in Beijing yesterday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) promised that China would prioritize Taiwan as Beijing opens to the world, and that it would continue to protect the interests of Taiwanese businesses in China.
“We will continue to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Taiwan-funded enterprises and Taiwan businesspeople on the mainland, and provide proper preferential policies to them,” Li said, when asked to comment on problems that Taiwanese businesses encounter in China.
To enhance cross-strait economic cooperation, Li said that “two wheels should be put in motion.”
Photo: AFP
“One is to enhance institution-building, for example, to continue to pursue follow-up talks on the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, and the other wheel is about further mutual opening-up,” he said.
However, Li said that such economic cooperation should be built on political foundations.
“People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are members of one big family, as long as we continue to adhere to the ‘one China’ principle and the ‘1992 consensus,’ to oppose the Taiwan independence movement, and uphold peaceful development for cross-strait relations,” the premier said.
The so-called “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted he had fabricated in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Beijing that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation.
Li also extended his invitation to young Taiwanese — who have drawn Beijing’s attention since the Sunflower movement last year — to start businesses in China.
“We welcome people from Taiwan businesses, particularly young people, to pursue their careers in the mainland, and enhance personnel exchanges,” Li said, which would help to “bring the hearts and minds of people on both sides of the Strait even closer to each other.”
The Mainland Affairs Council released a statement in response to Li’s remarks.
“The ‘1992 consensus,’ which allows both sides of the Taiwan Strait to make its own interpretation on ‘one China,’ is the foundation for institutionalized cross-strait interactions and exchanges,” the council said. “We call on China to face reality in cross-strait relations, fully understand Taiwanese people’s views and push for realistic, peaceful and stable developments between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.”
The council also recognized China’s recent reform efforts, adding that it expects China to show its determination about the reforms — while allowing citizens to participate — to enhance life for people on both sides of the Strait, it added.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS