One delegate picked by Beijing to speak for Taiwan in the National People's Congress (NPC) hasn't set foot on Taiwanese soil in 33 years. Others have never been there.
None was elected by Taiwanese voters and few have any contact with ordinary Taiwanese.
But the 13-member delegation is in the limelight this week as the NPC prepares to enact a law authorizing a military attack under various circumstances.
PHOTO: AP
"I may not have been born in Taiwan, but my parents raised me to love Taiwan, and I care deeply about Taiwan's future," said delegation member Cai Guobin, the Chinese-born son of Taiwanese parents.
Another delegate, Wu Yingfu, was born in Tainan. But he switched allegiance over the handling of Diaoyutai (Senkaku Islands), a rocky, uninhabited outcropping in the Pacific Ocean claimed by China, Taiwan and Japan.
In 1972, Wu was in Arizona getting a PhD in mathematics when the US, which occupied Diaoyutai at the end of World War II, turned the islets over to Japan amid protests from Beijing and Taipei.
Taiwan's reaction was more muted because it didn't dare offend its protector, the US, he said.
Seeing his home island as powerless, Wu headed for China after graduation.
Today, Wu is a member of China's ruling Communist Party and teaches mathematics at Beijing Normal University. On the side, he runs a Taiwanese joint-venture company in Beijing.
Most Taiwanese are barely aware of the existence of a Taiwanese delegation in China's legislature. The delegates represent mainland-based groups that few in Taiwan have heard of, such as the National Taiwan Coalition and the Taiwan Democracy and Self-government League.
Most years, the Taiwan delegation is an afterthought at the annual NPC session as the government uses the legislature to promote economic liberalization, law-and-order issues or agricultural reform.
But this year, NPC leaders are treating the "anti-secession" law as their top issue.
The "Taiwanese" delegates have been quoted widely in state media endorsing the measure. Reporters from China and abroad crowd their hotel, hoping for interviews during cigarette breaks between meetings.
While the Taiwanese government denounced the proposed measure as a "blank check to invade" the island, the delegates dismiss fears that it will lead to an attack.
"If I thought the anti-secession law would push China and Taiwan toward another war, I would never support it," Cai said.
Delegate Yang Size left Taiwan in 1972 to study physics in the US. He says he blamed Taiwan's government for not protesting hard enough against the Diaoyutai handover.
After finishing his studies, he also chose China instead of returning to Taiwan.
Taiwan used to have seats for representatives of mainland China in its own legislature, but they were removed after constitutional revisions in the early 1990s.
Taiwan banned its citizens from visiting China for four decades and still bars most direct air and shipping links.
It is still difficult for Chinese to obtain visas to visit Taiwan, though tens of thousands of Taiwanese live in China.
Wu and Cai said they try to keep up with events in Taiwan by meeting often with visitors from the island. They watch Taiwanese television by satellite and read Taiwanese media.
Wu said he has many friends in Taiwan, including politicians -- "even supporters of Taiwan independence."
The NPC is expected to pass the anti-secession law on March 14, the final day of its annual session.
The "Taiwanese" delegates follow Beijing's line, brushing off fears that the law could backfire by antagonizing the Taiwanese public.
Their only suggested change: China should do more to familiarize Taiwan's people with it.
"We can invite more Taiwanese politicians and academics over to mainland China to explain the law," Wu said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS