Beijing’s imposition of travel bans on Taiwanese nationals within China has raised concerns amid heightened tensions between both countries.
Analysts aware of the situation point out that there are severe risks involved in travelling and doing business in China.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Wednesday confirmed that an unidentified senior executive from Formosa Plastics Group, a company based in Taiwan was questioned by Chinese authorities after the individual landed in the Chinese commercial capital Shanghai from Taipei recently, Voice of America reported.
Currently, the questioned individual, from the major Taiwanese group has been banned from leaving China. This case comes when both China and Taiwan are witnessing heightened tensions. Other than the Taiwanese individual, several foreigners have been refused permission by the authorities to leave China’s borders.
Experts over the matter say that this case could have a chilling effect on Taiwan’s business community which faces differences and exodus from China. “While some Taiwanese businesses have started to reduce the scale of their operations in China several years ago, this case will push more companies to exit the Chinese market as a way to protect their interests,” Wang Kuo-Chen, an economist at the Chung-Hua Institute for Economic Research, as quoted in the VOA report.
According to the same news report by VOA, MAC initially declined to share any specific details of the victim due to the safety concerns of the individual. Amid the current situation, the Formosa Plastic Group claimed that they were trying to gather more information on the case. “We will continue to follow his case and provide the necessary assistance,” the company said in a statement.
Other political and financial analysts over the matter say that this case is similar to other several instances when Beijing has used its political powers to pressure Taiwanese or foreign businesses individuals.
Chen Fang-Yu, a political scientist at Soochow University in Taiwan said “This case reminds me of the Chinese government’s tax probe into Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn last October, which coincided with the company’s founder Terry Gou’s bid to run in Taiwan’s presidential election”.
In a similar incident quoted in the VOA report, a 22-year-old Taiwanese man surnamed Kuo went missing in China after arriving in Shanghai on August 27, as a result, his family had to seek help from the Taiwanese government.
In another incident from September this year, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office responsible cross-strait exchanges, in a statement had mentioned that a court in China’s eastern city of Wenzhou had sentenced Taiwanese political activist Yang Chih-Yuan to nine years in jail under secession charges.
The same news report claimed that in June, Beijing had introduced 22 guidelines to punish what they called “die-hard Taiwan independence activists” and the maximum punishment in such a case was death sentence.
Other than the Taiwanese people other foreign nationals have also faced similar difficulties in leaving China. According to a report by the Duihua Foundation in California, involved in freeing detainees through dialogue with China claimed that around 200 Americans are held under coercive measures in the country, and more than 30 Americans are banned from leaving the country the VOA report claimed.
Additionally, at least 17 Japanese citizens have been detained on spying charges since China enacted its anti-espionage law in 2015 and at least five of them remain in Chinese detention as of November 2023.
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