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Investors march
against Chinese authorities
VICTIMS: Angry Taiwanese businesspeople said
they were cheated by China¡¦s government. A protester said most did not trust an
investment pact with China
Staff Writer, with CNA
Victims of Investment in China
Association president William Kao, right, and some investors yesterday stage a
protest in downtown Taipei accusing Beijing of bullying Taiwanese
businesspeople.
Photo: Lu Chun-wei, Taipei Times
A group of China-based Taiwanese
businesspeople defied rainy weather conditions in Taipei yesterday to stage a
demonstration against the Chinese authorities, whom they accused of oppressing
and deceiving them.
At least 30 vehicles gathered in front of the National Palace Museum at 1pm to
begin a march around the city, said Shen Po-sheng (¨H¬f³Ó), a Taiwanese businessman
who had operations in China.
The demonstration was organized by an association of Taiwanese investors who
said they fell victim to scams perpetrated by their Chinese partners in
collaboration with members of China¡¦s judiciary.
Shen, who went to Tianjin to do business 20 years ago, said he lost 190 million
yuan (US$29.7 million) when his factory was illegally seized by the Chinese
government, but received government compensation of only 16 million yuan.
He said that after his complaints to the Tianjin municipal government and
prosecutors¡¦ office were ignored, he tried to kill himself in Tiananmen Square
in Beijing in protest.
Huang Hsi-tsung (¶À¿üÁo), one of the organizers of the demonstration, accused
Fujian provincial officials and banks of ¡§collusion¡¨ by forging his name and
that of -another Taiwanese to apply for loans in their names with four banks.
The two Taiwanese refused to pay the debts they did not owe and had their
companies seized by court orders as a result, Huang said.
The case spent 11 years in China¡¦s justic system, but eventually ¡§came to
nothing, despite our greatest -efforts,¡¨ he said.
The business group decided to take to the streets to warn other Taiwanese that
¡§investing in China is a dead end,¡¨ Shen said.
Most businesspeople do not trust a bilateral investment protection agreement
Taipei hopes to sign with Beijing, Shen said, because China already had
-investment protection laws and rules for Taiwanese that are not being enforced.
¡§What¡¦s the point of signing this agreement? It will never benefit Taiwanese
businessmen. [China¡¦s] only purpose is to form another ¡¥united front,¡¦¡¨ Shen
said.
Huang told a press conference last week he had received a -threatening telephone
call on Wednesday from Zhang Jiwei (±iÄ~°¶), an official from the People¡¦s
Procuratorate of the Province of Fujian, who said ¡§agents¡¨ would be sent to
Taipei to collect information and that if anything ¡§inappropriate¡¨ was said or
done during the protest, they would take retaliatory action.
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