China conference on June 24, 2004

SEF claims China spoke against conference

By Melody Chen
STAFF REPORTER , IN ILAN
 

Beijing told China-based Taiwanese businesspeople not to return home to join a government-hosted conference in celebration of the Dragon Boat Festival, Yen Wan-ching , deputy secretary-general of the semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), said yesterday.

The government routinely invites China-based Taiwanese businesspeople to come home to attend conferences on the three major Chinese festivals of the year -- the Lunar New Year, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Moon Festival.

The conference for the Dragon Boat Festival, held yesterday and today in Ilan, however, attracted only 80 Taiwanese business leaders to return from China, a sharp decrease from the 120 participants in the Lunar New Year conference.

The government holds the conferences to explain cross-strait policies and collect the businesspeoples' opinions about how the government should shape its policies.

Following the attack by the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily on pro-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) businessman Hsu Wen-lung earlier this month, the Chinese authorities have used considerable pressure to force Taiwanese businesspeople to avoid the conference, Yen said.

Fearful of being labeled as "pro-green" and thus having their business suffer in China, many Taiwanese business leaders withdrew from the conference.

There are more than 70 Taiwanese business associations in China. Almost all of the presidents of the associations went home for the Lunar New Year conference. This time, only 15 presidents were in the conference.

President Chen Shui-bian , who has only missed such a conference on one occasion, did not plan to appear at the conference in Ilan. Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu was the keynote speaker at a dinner banquet for the businesspeople.

Yen did not say whether the president's absence from the conference was related to China's actions and the response from the business community. He said the foundation had only suggested the president join the Lunar New Year conference.

Despite the reduced number of participants, Yen said the foundation was touched by seeing the businesspeople at the conference.

"They more or less were under pressure from China, which asked them not to come to this conference," he said.

Though the number of participants in the conference was fewer than at previous ones, the turnout was actually better than the foundation expected, the official said.

"Their participation is very precious. We understand the difficulties of those who chose not to come back. Their absence from the conference doesn't mean they no longer identify with Taiwan. It doesn't mean their loyalty to Taiwan has been shaken, either," Yen added.

Businesspeople interviewed at the conference, however, denied that Chinese authorities had asked them not to come home, but all kept tight-lipped about China's criticism of Hsu and other pro-green businesspeople.

Andrew Yeh , vice president of the Taiwan Businessmen Association in Dongguan, appeared unaffected by China's hostility towards pro-DPP businessmen.

"Politics is politics. Business is business," he said.

Many China-based Taiwanese businesspeoples' moods have remained sour since the March presidential election. The post-election turmoil made both pro-blue and pro-green businesspeople in China very unhappy, according to Yeh.

Yeh said he joined the conference because it was his duty. However, he expressed frustration about the government's inaction towards their most urgent needs, including the implementation of the three direct links and extension of national health insurance to those who work and live in China.

"We really have nothing new to say to the government. We have said all we want to say. Experience has told me it is useless to tell the government our needs," Yeh said.

Wu Chin-chung , president of the Taiwan Businessmen Association in Xiamen, also expressed hope the government can implement the three direct links as soon as possible.

Asked whether Chinese officials had asked Taiwanese businesspeople not to come home for the conference, Wu said he had never heard of such a thing in Xiamen.

MAC has to step in in China: legislator

STOP OPPRESSION: A DPP lawmaker yesterday called on the Mainland Affairs Council to get rescue plans in place for persecuted local businesspeople in China
By Debby Wu
STAFF REPORTER
 

China should not allow its regional officials to oppress and extort money from Taiwanese businesspeople, and the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) should have prevention schemes and rescue channels in place, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker said yesterday.

DPP Legislator Chang Ching-fang said that China's hostility towards pro-DPP Taiwanese businesspeople had allowed China's regional officials to extort money from them.

"Some Chinese regional officials have falsely accused certain businessmen of tax evasion or smuggling, and arrested them. Then the officials would demand a huge amount of ransom from the businessmen's family or company, as well as documents that prove the businessmen's support for the pan-blue camp," Chang said.

Chang said the Chinese government should not allow regional officials to suppress and extort money from Taiwanese businesspeople, and that the MAC should prepare prevention schemes and rescue channels to protect businesspeople's safety.

Chang also played a tape of a telephone recording in which a Taiwanese businessman told Chang that his company's general manager was arrested for smuggling, whereupon Chinese officials asked for a ransom of NT$8 million and an election-ballot receipt as proof that the man voted for the Lien-Soong ticket in Taiwan's presidential election.

The businessman then explained to the officials there was no such a thing as a ballot receipt in Taiwan.

The official replied that it would be fine just to hand over the money. After some bargaining, the two sides agreed on a NT$6.5 million ransom.

The businessman said that the officials told him to pay the money in Hong Kong and after the money was handed over, the general manager was finally released.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei County Councilor Wang Jing-yuan said that a friend doing business in China asked for his help last week because the businessman's partner was arrested by the Chinese police for tax evasion.

The businessman said that the Chinese officials demanded a ransom of NT$4 million and demanded to see a certificate from the pan-blue campaign headquarters as proof of the partner's councilor status.

Wang said that the ransom was paid last weekend, but the partner's release was still being negotiated.

Both Chang and Wang said that protecting Taiwanese businesspeople's rights in China is an important issue for both the pan-blue camp and the pan-green camp, and they asked the MAC to protest and voice its concern to China.

"On the one hand, China says that it will take care of Taiwanese businessmen in China, but on the other hand, it still allows regional officials to bully the businessmen. If this continues, more and more Taiwanese businessmen will refrain from investing in China, and lose faith in China," Chang said.

China must look at long-term results

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Ching-fang and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei County Councilor Wang Chin-yuan held a joint press conference yesterday to point out that China's attempt to settle the score with Chi Mei Corporation was beginning to have after-effects. The two used examples to highlight several recent cases of unethical Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members trying to pin crimes on Taiwanese businessmen in order to make a profit for themselves.

The naming by Chinese authorities of Chi Mei Chairman Hsu Wen-lung and their repeated statements that they do not welcome DPP-friendly businessmen have had an immediate effect. The number of Taiwanese businessmen returning to Taiwan to celebrate Dragon Boat festival declined sharply from last year, from 120 to 80. Businessmen are cautious and afraid that they will be labelled pro-DPP.

We cannot help thinking of Shimpei Goto's -- chief civil administrator during the Japanese era -- assessment of the Taiwanese people: "Taiwanese are afraid of dying, and can be frightened by heavy pressure; they love money, and can be seduced by small profits; they put a lot of importance in [the concept of] face, and can be co-opted by [promises of] empty reputation."

Goto's comment refers to a shameful episode in Taiwan's history. However, during his eight-year term (1898 to 1906) as deputy to Taiwan's governor-general, Gentaro Kodama, Goto and Kodama jointly laid the foundation for Japanese colonial rule. When Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's regime relocated to Taiwan in 1949, he followed Goto's strategy and the regime enjoyed a stable rule for over half a century.

But this was the case before Taiwan became an independent sovereign state. For the Taiwanese people at that time, whoever arrived was the king, and they only wanted to make money and live a quite life. As a result, many business people tried to build political connections. They made compromises for the sake of their business interests, and did not care about national dignity or society's collective interests.

But during the KMT's half-century rule, "Taiwan consciousness" was first introduced by the opposition at the time, and was further promoted by former president Lee Teng-hui . Taiwanese people are no longer content with merely making money and living a quiet life.

Now, China has determined to turn its back on conciliatory gestures to win goodwill and has decided to put pressure on Taiwanese business people. The result it hopes to achieve is that of "killing one person to frighten the multitude." From the initial, superficial response, we can see the poison of colonial oppression at work, calling on Taiwanese business people to revert to former habits of "fearing death, loving money and seeking flattery."

But what is the situation beneath the surface? China may have underestimated the strength of the burgeoning Taiwanese consciousness. This makes one think of the calls from South Koreans to cancel plans to deploy troops following the kidnapping by Iraqi terrorists of Kim Sun-il earlier this month. Within 24 hours of news that he had been beheaded, there was an about-face in South Korean public opinion and many are now calling for the destruction of Iraq.

What this incident makes clear is that one should not push against the limits of national self-respect. Whether Shimpei Goto's assessment of the Taiwanese character remains valid today remains to be seen. We are willing to repeatedly remind China that cross-strait trade benefits both parties and that anyone who contributes to the development of commercial links and cooperation across the strait deserves to be encouraged. We hope that China can restrain its ballooning egotism and start looking at the long-term results, and make forward-looking plans for cross-strait economic development.