China is promoting new economic opportunities for Taiwanese people while at the same time ramping up military activity around the island it claims as its own.
Experts say the “carrots and sticks” approach, which Beijing has employed for years, signals a choice between peaceful “reunification” and military aggression ahead of a Taiwanese presidential election next year.
This week, China unveiled a plan for an “integrated development demonstration zone” in its southeastern Fujian province, the closest to self-governed, democratic Taiwan. Taipei strongly rejects China’s sovereignty claims.
As part of the plan, Beijing is encouraging Taiwanese companies to list on Chinese stock exchanges and is promising better conditions for Taiwanese investors and a more “relaxed” environment for travel, according to a statement Tuesday by the Communist Party’s Central Committee and the State Council, China’s Cabinet.
“The goal is to build an integrated development demonstration zone in the entire area of Fujian province to fully show the effect of Fujian as the first-choice destination for Taiwanese people and enterprises to pursue development on the mainland,” Pan Xianzhang, deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said at a news conference Thursday.
