China has given its blessing to the first national-level Taiwanese chamber of commerce, for which a ceremony will be held in Beijing on Monday to mark the formal establishment of the Friendship Association for Enterprises Invested in by Taiwanese Compatriots, China's policy-making Taiwan Affairs Office said.
"The association will aim to help resolve business disputes and protect the rights of Taiwan investors," said Chang Han-wen (張漢文), a Taiwanese investor in China's Guangdong Province.
Taiwanese businesspeople have set up more than 100 city-level chambers of commerce across China since the 1990s, but have been banned from forming a national-level chamber until now because China's Communist Party frowns on freedom of association.
Chen Yunlin (
He Shizhong (
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Chao-hui (黃昭輝) earlier this week urged Taiwan's government and business leaders "not to recognize, follow or participate in" the association, saying that it was part of China's attempt to ally itself with Taiwanese businesspeople against Taiwan's government by posting ranking officials in the newly formed federation.
He also questioned why the two Chinese officials were participating in an organization purportedly intended to defend and safeguard the rights and interests of Taiwanese businesspeople in China.
`One China' trap
He said that while Taiwanese business associations around China have worked hard to protect Taiwanese interests, the new business federation would be "trapped by Beijing's `one China' scheme, hidden in the association's organic constitution," which stipulates that the leadership of the federation must respect the "one China" principle and advocate China's goal of unification.
Meanwhile, Lien Chan (連戰), former chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), is to attend the third Cross-Strait Economic and Cultural Forum in Beijing from April 28 to April 29 and meet Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
China menaced Taiwan with war games in the run-up to the nation's first direct presidential elections in 1996.
However, in an about-face, Hu rolled out the red carpet for Taiwanese opposition politicians as part of a divide-and-rule campaign. Hu has sought to win the hearts and minds of Taiwanese businesspeople by exempting some fruit from import tax and offering loans.
‘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