China has exposed its autocratic nature by threatening Taiwanese expats in an attempt to prevent them returning home to attend next month’s Double Ten National Day celebrations, the Overseas Community Affairs Council said yesterday.
The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday published a report citing sources as saying that China has delivered threats to Taiwanese across Southeast Asia through its embassies, saying that those who return home for Double Ten National Day would face difficulties when applying for a Chinese visa.
Local travel agencies in Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia and other countries in the region were asked to meet with the Chinese ambassadors there, and were asked to inform Taiwanese about possible difficulties they might encounter in their Chinese visa applications, the report said.
When reached for comment, the council said that China’s oppression of Taiwanese expats is pervasive, such as pressuring overseas compatriot groups friendly toward Taiwan into flying the People’s Republic of China flag or issuing thinly veiled threats regarding Chinese visa applications.
Council Deputy Minister Kao Chien-chih (高建智) cited as an example a meeting of Malaysian alumni from Taiwan that he attended early last month, saying that there were rumors that Chinese embassies had asked Malaysian city councilors not to attend the event.
China seeks to win people over with money, such as by funding schools or offering benefits to Taiwanese businesspeople working in projects related to its Belt and Road Initiative, Kao said.
Beijing has stepped up its efforts to subvert Taiwanese expat groups, the commission said in a report to the Legislative Yuan in October last year.
Since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was inaugurated on May 20, 2016, the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification has been holding events and talks across North America and other regions, urging Taiwanese expatriates to set aside their pro-independence sentiments and promote unification with China, the overseas affairs council said.
China’s actions have shown the world its true nature — an authoritarian regime — the council said, adding that all Taiwanese are welcome to return home for Double Ten National Day.
It is customary to invite overseas compatriots to return home to attend the celebrations, the council said, adding that about 5,000 people on average answer the call each year.
Last year’s celebrations saw the highest number of Taiwanese expats attendees in six years, at 6,300 people, the council added.
China has used its political and economical leverage to force Southeast Asian nations to “speak with China first” before reaching any kind of deal — even a discount — with Taiwanese businesspeople, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) said.
These actions aim to counter the Tsai administration’s New Southbound Policy and the government should offer more assistance to Taiwanese businesspeople overseas, Chiu said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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