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Taiwan
ChinaPolitics

Mainland China suspended Taiwan tariff cuts over continued ‘separatist fallacy’ from Lai’s DPP

  • Remarks from cross-strait affairs chief Song Tao come during talks with Third Wednesday Club business delegation from Taiwan

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Taiwan Affairs Office chief Song Tao (right) meets Third Wednesday Club chair Lin Por-fong, in Beijing on Tuesday. Photo: TAO
William Zheng
Beijing’s decision to reinstate tariffs on more than 100 items imported from Taiwan was prompted by its pro-independence government’s failure to reciprocate and continued promotion of the “separatist fallacy”, the mainland body in charge of cross-strait affairs has said.

Song Tao, head of Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), made the remarks as he met representatives of “The Third Wednesday Club” led by Taiwan Glass Group chairman Lin Por-fong.

The Third Wednesday Club is one of Taiwan’s most influential business groups.

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Founded in 1999 by Chiang Pin-kung, then chairman of the island’s Council for Economic Planning and Development, the club got its name from the monthly lunch meeting he hosted with top business leaders.

It is the first large business group from Taiwan to visit mainland China after William Lai Ching-te of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) took office as leader of the self-ruled island on May 20. He succeeded the DPP’s Tsai Ing-wen, whose two four-year terms saw a marked slide in cross-strait ties.

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The itinerary of the 30-strong delegation includes stops in Beijing, Tianjin and the neighbouring province of Hebei. Lin said they had been invited to visit Hebei’s Xiongan New Area, a signature project of President Xi Jinping in his push to ease pressure on Beijing, some 120km (74.5 miles) away.
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