China’s political warfare against Taiwan is this year to emphasize recruiting first-time Taiwanese visitors to study and work in China’s Fujian Province, an academic said yesterday.
The Fujian Provincial Government’s “united front” work plan for this year showed a special interest in absorbing young or politically inexperienced Taiwanese to achieve the annexation of Taiwan, said Cheng Cheng-ping (鄭政秉), a professor of finance at the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology.
Fujian is a bellwether for China’s political strategy to annex Taiwan, as Beijing deems the province the vanguard of “united front” work, Cheng said.
Photo: Reuters
China’s flagging economy might have partially informed the Fujian plan for Taiwanese to stimulate economic activity, industry and the labor market, he said.
Young Taiwanese might also have the knowledge and training Beijing needs to overcome a US technology embargo on semiconductors and equipment used in artificial intelligence products, he said.
However, the best evidence suggests that showcase economic zones for young Taiwanese have been an expensive failure for the province and its persistence in the projects likely reflects a political motive, he said.
The zones did not recruit Taiwanese with economically valuable skills, but drew discontented and dispossessed people, he added.
The Fujian plan states that the economic programs are in the service of China’s quest to “achieve the unification of the fatherland,” he cited the document as saying.
“China’s ultimate goal is to take over Taiwan, ideally without firing a shot,” Cheng said. “In the long term, China seems to be willing to spend a lot to get Taiwanese with low competitiveness to move there, even when its economy is weak.”
The emphasis on showing a curated version of China to common Taiwanese tourists and borough wardens, and courting residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties have been relatively successful, Cheng said.
The public should be more alert to China’s hostile intentions, he said.
The “united front” work plan published by the provincial government on Monday directed officials to broaden exchanges in education, law, health, technology, sports, cultural and hospitality sectors.
The plan called for increased flights between Taiwan and Fujian, encouraging young Taiwanese and first-time visitors to find jobs in the province and redoubling efforts to build economic integration demonstration zones.
It stipulated decreased restrictions for Taiwanese to invest in China, the establishment of special zones for start-ups and agriculture projects, and incorporating Kinmen and Lienchiang into Fujian’s economic sphere.
The province is use its cultural claim as the “ancestral land” to promote Taiwanese history as part of Fujian, Matsu veneration and other cultural exchanges, the plan said.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS