Beijing warns Taiwan’s investors against using ‘profits earned on mainland’ to support independence
Beijing insists that the Taiwanese business community is still welcome but will not tolerate actions of so-called green merchants
Beijing said it will not tolerate Taiwanese businessmen supporting the island’s independence “with money they earned on the mainland”, even as it gave reassurances that its policies towards them would not change.
“Many Taiwanese businessmen are concerned that Beijing’s policies towards them might change because of the shift in Taiwan’s political atmosphere since Tsai Ing-wen became president in May,” Zhang Zhijun, the director of the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said on Friday.
“We welcome Taiwanese businessman to pursue their future on the mainland but we absolutely will not allow them to support Taiwan independence after they return to the island with money earned from mainland.”
The comments by Zhang, who was speaking at a forum of Taiwanese businessmen in Zhengzhou, Henan province, came a few hours before an annual US defence policy bill suggested a plan to conduct high-level military exchanges with Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province.
They also follow a dispute over military vehicles that were seized in Hong Kong last week while they were being shipped from Taiwan to Singapore.