Beijing is drafting policies to attract Taiwanese to live and work in China, a Chinese government spokesman said on Wednesday, in a direct appeal to Taiwanese.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman An Fengshan (安峰山) said that Taiwanese would be offered incentives in employment, education and state benefits.
Speaking at a bimonthly news conference, An said that the measures — to be rolled out at a time yet to be determined — aim to boost “economic and social integration between the sides.”
Beijing froze government-to-government contacts with Taiwan last year and has been increasing diplomatic and economic pressure.
The latest measures appear to represent the carrot to that stick, although previous attempts to win over Taiwanese through the pocketbook have had little effect. About 1 million Taiwanese are believed to live in China, either permanently or part-time, mainly for work and study.
To Beijing’s proposed measures, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said that as long as they are advantageous for Taiwanese businesspeople’s investment and development in China, are not against Taiwanese laws and would not harm national dignity, Taipei veiws the change positively.
The council said that the Cross-Strait Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement signed in 2012 already has regulations concerning the benefits and called on Beijing to continue implementing the agreement and responding to Taiwanese businesspeople’s demands.
The benefits offered to Taiwanese students by the Chinese authorities are part of their Taiwan policy, the council said, adding that Taiwan’s higher education — with quality teachers and academic freedom — is still a good choice compared with China’s and called on Taiwanese students to take into consideration the differences in political, economic and social systems between the two sides.
An criticized plans to visit Taiwan by the exiled leader of a Chinese ethnic minority regarded by Beijing as seeking independence for the northwestern region of Xinjiang.
World Uyghur Congress president Rebiya Kadeer plans to travel to Taiwan at the end of next month at the invitation of the Taiwan Solidarity Union.
“We are resolutely opposed to Rebiya Kadeer engaging in activities in Taiwan in any form. In inviting this person to visit Taiwan, Taiwanese independence forces are seeking to create an incident that is sure to undermine relations between the sides,” An said.
Kadeer was imprisoned for more than five years in China for her advocacy of rights for Xinjiang’s Muslim Uighurs and was exiled to the US in 2005.
She denies China’s accusation that she backs a violent campaign to overthrow Chinese rule in Xinjiang.
China already affords Taiwanese considerable advantages, including the right to enter China and remain as long as their “Taiwan Compatriots Pass”remains valid.
Taiwanese were among the biggest investors in China after it opened its economy in the 1980s and 1990s.
China absorbs about two-thirds of Taiwan’s outward investment and about 40 percent of its foreign trade.
Yet as China’s economy grew into the world’s second-largest, young Taiwanese especially became increasingly wary of the economic threat it posed. Many blame China for stagnating wages and a comparative loss of competitiveness as China moved from cheap manufactured products into high-tech realms that Taiwan had long specialized in.
Such concerns helped put Tsai in power in last year’s election and she has responded with her “new southbound policy,” a push to expand the nation’s economic links with Southeast Asia.
Additional reporting by CNA
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