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Shanghai mayor pledges safe investment environment for Taiwan firms amid Beijing warnings over separatists
- At Taipei-Shanghai Twin-City Forum mayors talk of cooperation soon after Taiwan’s conglomerate Far Eastern Group was fined US$74 million by mainland authorities
- The cities signed memorandums of understanding related to zoos, Chinese orchestras and technological innovation
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The annual Taipei-Shanghai Twin-City Forum kicked off with the Shanghai mayor offering assurances of a sound investment environment for Taiwanese investors amid recent warnings by Beijing authorities against businesses that backed separatist forces.
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Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng noted that people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait shared the same roots and bond and were from one family, adding that his administration would continue to take care of the interests of Taiwanese in Shanghai.
“We will continue to offer our support to our Taiwanese compatriots and secure their business operations and investments,” Gong said during the opening of the virtual forum on Wednesday.
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Taiwan deploys its most advanced F-16V fighter jets amid rising military tensions with Beijing
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His pledge came after Taiwan’s conglomerate Far Eastern Group was recently fined 474 million yuan (US$74 million) by local mainland authorities for what officials deemed violation of regulations – just weeks after the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office released a blacklist to punished those who backed separatist forces on the self-ruled island.
According to Xinhua, textile and cement subsidiaries of Far Eastern in several cities, including Shanghai, were penalised for breaches related to environmental protection, land use, workers’ health and taxation.
While Beijing did not directly say the fine was related to supporting the island’s separatist forces, its Taiwan Affairs Office warned Taiwanese firms they could not expect to operate in mainland China and also support independence.
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Far Eastern was known as the biggest donor of political funds to the pro-independence camp in the 2020 legislature elections, although it also made contributions to candidates of the Kuomintang, Taiwan’s main opposition party.
On Tuesday Douglas Hsu, head of the Far Eastern Group, said in a letter to a local media outlet that he opted for Taiwan maintaining the status quo rather than seeking independence, and that he also supported the notion of the “1992 Consensus” which contains the one-China principle.
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