Taiwanese tycoon ‘opposes independence’ after China fines firm US$74 million

‘Like most Taiwanese, I hope cross-strait relations maintain status quo,’ Far Eastern chairman Douglas Hsu says in open letter to Taiwan’s United Daily News

Company was hit with massive fines over a series of matters ranging from tax to fire safety

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Far Eastern Group chairman Douglas Hsu said he did not support Taiwanese independence. Photo: Discovery Reports

Published: 5:17pm, 30 Nov 2021Updated: 5:49pm, 30 Nov 2021

The chairman of a Taiwanese conglomerate said on Tuesday he does not support independence from China after Beijing fined his company in an apparent warning to it and other businesses to toe the mainland’s line on its sovereignty claims.

Beijing took aim last week at Taiwan’s Far Eastern Group, which has interests ranging from hotels to petrochemicals, for a series of problems, from tax to fire safety, with fines totalling 474 million yuan (US$74 million).

While Beijing has not directly said the company is guilty of supporting independence for the island, which it claims, government statements on the fines have warned Taiwanese firms they could not expect to operate in mainland China and support independence.

In an open letter to Taiwan’s United Daily News, Far Eastern chairman Douglas Hsu said that “under the current political atmosphere in Taiwan” certain public opinions put “a sense of guilt” on Taiwanese firms investing in China, which was unnecessary.

In recent years, many opinion polls showed most Taiwanese supported maintaining the current status quo across the Taiwan Strait, he said.

“Like most Taiwanese, I hope that cross-strait relations ‘maintain the status quo’. I have always opposed Taiwan independence,” he said.