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Taiwan
ChinaPolitics

Fines on Taiwan’s Far Eastern Group fan fears of more retaliation by Beijing over political donations

  • Mainland subsidiaries of the conglomerate told to pay millions for a range of violations
  • Group seen as big donor to independence-leaning DPP – as well as opposition

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Taiwanese Premier Su Tseng-chang is on the mainland blacklist. Photo: EPA-EFE
Lawrence Chung
Taiwanese businesspeople have raised concerns about possible retaliation on the mainland after authorities in Beijing fined a business donor to the island’s political parties over a range of regulatory breaches.

State news agency Xinhua reported on Monday that mainland textile and cement subsidiaries of Taiwan’s Far Eastern Group were fined more than 88.6 million yuan (US$13.87 million) for a series of violations, including breaches of environmental protection rules.

The group has been a big donor to politicians from the ruling, independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party but also makes contributions to politicians from the main opposition Kuomintang party.
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In 2018, it contributed to the local government election campaign of Premier Su Tseng-chang, one of three leading DPP politicians – along with legislative speaker Yu Shyi-kun and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu – on a mainland blacklist, accused of “vigorously inciting cross-strait confrontation and malicious attacks against the mainland”.

The Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) in Beijing released the blacklist on November 5, warning that those on it would be punished.

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Taiwanese businesspeople based on the mainland said the fines were a warning to Far Eastern.

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