Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: rheins/WikiCommons/CC BY 3.0
THE KMT HAS alarmed with a new push to pass a slate of legislation directed at outlying islands of Taiwan.
Although it is probable that the DPP will push back against the legislation, legislation is pushed for by around ten KMT legislators including Wang Hung-wei, Hsu Chiao-hsin, Lin Te-fu, and others, with KMT legislators in greater Taipei having joined the push for such legislation. Legislation includes a proposal to construct a bridge between China’s Xiamen and Taiwan’s outlying island of Kinmen, to allow for the establishment of a free trade zone (FTZ) in Kinmen that would seek to attract Chinese investment, and to allow for Chinese contractors to operate in Kinmen.
The attempt to establish an FTZ would be an attempt to cement closer economic and political ties between Kinmen and Xiamen. Yet the idea has been criticized as the proposal has been criticized as an attempt to allow Chinese goods to circumvent US tariff restrictions by posing as Taiwanese goods. This would be a form of product laundering, to circumvent the tariffs that the US imposes on China, or bans on certain Chinese products that the US has criticized China as attempting to flood the market with, by allowing these products to pose as Taiwanese. Such legislation has also been criticized as likely to result in cheaply made Chinese products flooding the market.
The proposal to allow Chinese contractors to operate in outlying islands of Taiwan would specifically allow Chinese contractors to place tenders on public infrastructure construction in Taiwan’s outlying islands. The bill would also lift limits on enrollment for Chinese students in universities in the outlying islands of Taiwan, without any quota, and allow Taiwanese companies to be permitted to bring Chinese workers and equipment to outlying islands. As such, the proposal has been criticized as a front for efforts to expand Chinese presence in outlying islands of Taiwan, allowing for Chinese equipment and personnel to be brought over more easily, in serving as a “Trojan Horse” for such efforts.
Indeed, allowing Chinese contractors to work on public infrastructure in Kinmen would likely prove a significant point of vulnerability in the event of an invasion. But KMT legislators have gone a step further in also pushing for the construction of a bridge between Kinmen and Xiamen, shrugging off concerns that the bridge could be used to facilitate the movement of People’s Liberation Army troops in the event of an invasion.
In the past, Ko Wen-je of the TPP was also supportive of the idea of constructing a bridge between Kinmen and Xiamen. When the idea was criticized as a national security hazard, concerns were shrugged off, with the suggestion that the bridge could simply be blown up. Yet the construction of such a bridge would avoid the need for a costly beachhead invasion of Kinmen in the event of war.
KMT legislators have been accused of seeking closer ties between outlying islands of Taiwan and China in terms of critical infrastructure such as electricity, water, and transportation. Notably, in 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping called in a speech for “New Four Links” to be established between Taiwan and China, which would be electricity, water, and gas, and a physical bridge. As such, KMT legislators have been accused of seeking to follow suit on Xi’s actions.
More generally, KMT legislators have been accused of seeking to establish a version of “One Country, Two Systems” in outlying islands of Taiwan, in aiming to drastically expand Chinese influence there while prying them off from the rest of Taiwan. This would also be taking cues from Xi, who has indicated that he sees the outlying islands of Taiwan as key to luring the rest of Taiwan into the fold. This is why the Chinese government has declined to lift restrictions on group tourism for Taiwan as a whole, but did so for Matsu, as a way to try and entice the other parts of Taiwan to also hope for a return to Chinese tourism.
It is questionable as to why the KMT has decided to push for this slate of legislation in the midst of recall season, when there is already a wave of public anger against KMT actions seen as undermining democratic governance and placing Taiwan in further danger regarding the long-standing threats it has faced from China. Certainly, such actions will prompt anger across the Taiwanese mainland. At the same time, it is to be remembered that outlying islands of Taiwan differ politically from the rest of Taiwan, and that it is not necessarily the case that residents of such islands may reject these proposals.