A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) proposal to allow Chinese investment in Taiwan’s outlying islands would open the door for Chinese infiltration, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) said on Tuesday.
KMT Legislator Chen Hsueh-sheng (陳雪生) proposed amendments to the Offshore Islands Development Act (離島建設條例) that would allow Chinese manufacturers to participate in industrial development and public construction projects on outlying islands.
The amendments would also open enrollment at colleges and universities on outlying islands to Chinese students, and exempt them from enrollment quota restrictions.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The proposals would “open four doors” to Chinese infiltration, Shen wrote on Facebook.
The first door would allow Chinese companies’ involvement in public infrastructure projects, and exclude them from normal restrictions, he said.
That would weaken Taiwan’s sovereignty and endanger national security by bypassing Article 17 of the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法), as well as provisions in Article 40 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), he said.
The second door would allow Chinese companies used for such procurements to send people to the islands, without being subject to normal rules on Chinese working in Taiwan, he said.
The amendments would also bypass rules stipulating that those coming to Taiwan from China for such projects not be allowed to change jobs within one year, he added.
The third door would permit workers and equipment from Chinese manufacturers to be brought into restricted areas, Shen said.
The fourth door is a clause in the proposals that would make the stipulations also applicable to Taiwanese companies, meaning that firms colluding with Beijing could bring in Chinese workers and equipment to the outlying islands, he said.
The national security implications of the proposals would be worse than those of the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement, the passage of which led to the 2014 Sunflower movement, DPP Legislator Huang Jie (黃捷) said.
If passed, the proposal would open up all areas of Taiwan’s outlying islands to Chinese spies, Huang said.
“It is being touted as a way to improve the efficiency of infrastructure projects, but in effect, it would open up a back door to China,” she said.
Under current regulations, manufacturers from foreign countries can only bid on public projects if there is a bilateral agreement signed by that country and Taiwan, she said.
Even then, if the project has national security implications, restrictions might be placed on the foreign company, she said.
As China and Taiwan have no such agreement, government tenders must be decided on a case-by-case basis, she added.
Speaking with reporters yesterday, Chen said that the outlying islands are unable to complete infrastructure problems due to a labor shortage.
“The ruling party is unable to solve that labor shortage. Instead of being so pessimistic, people should try to help solve the issue,” he said. “If you want to recall me, go ahead and do so.”
Asked whether the proposal would “open a back door” for China, Chen said that allowing Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan was “already opening the door to China.”
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS