Looks like the article I was looking at few weeks ago no longer exists. As I recalled, it basically said that Taiwan has already invested 100 billion US dollars on mainland, and there are around one million Taiwanese living there.
The high tech and medium-size businesses are lobbying for greater freedom to invest on mainland, which the government has so far put a limit on. The reasons they are moving to mainland are the same as US companies are moving there, that is the bottom line.
At the same time, the communist government is telling these business men that either they parrot the communist party line or they can go back to Taiwan, without their investments, of course.
This the article? Seems close, but differs in details.
http://www.agenceglobal.com/article.asp?id=202
China’s New Squeeze On Taiwan Investments
by Paul Denlinger Released: 12 Aug 2004
Following the inauguration of Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian on May 20, the Chinese government has turned the screws on corporations with investments in China that favor Taiwan independence. These so-called green corporations derive their name from the color associated with the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan.
Companies which have donated funds to aid Chen’s re-election, or have taken a stand favoring Chen, have had investment loans denied after initial approval in the past months. The best-publicized case has been an investment made by the Chi-Mei Group in a petrochemical plant in Zhenjiang. The chairman of the group, Hsu Wen-lung (Xu Wenlong), has been an outspoken supporter of Li Teng-huei, Taiwan’s president until 2000, a strong independence advocate.
The Chi-Mei Group has said that Hsu, who is 78 years old, is now retired and does not manage the day-to-day affairs of the group. But Chinese papers say that Hsu continues to make major business decisions. The Chinese media have publicly stated that the government will no longer allow pro-independence Taiwan business groups to invest in China and repatriate their money to Taiwan to finance pro-independence activities.
Pro-independence business groups and politicians have said that Taiwan companies will invest elsewhere. The question is, with all the interest for investment in China, where will they go? Nobody seems to have an answer.
Chen, who serves concurrently as president of Taiwan, and as chairman of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, has actively pushed his pro-independence line with the encouragement of the former U.S. representative to Taiwan, Therese Shaheen. In the period up to the election on March 20, Shaheen told Chen on more than one occasions that President Bush is the “guardian angel of Taiwan.”
Chen took this to mean that the U.S. was the ultimate guarantor of Taiwan independence, and that the U.S. was willing to use U.S. military forces to guarantee Taiwan’s push for international recognition. For this reason, Chen deferred purchases of more than U.S.$20 billion of U.S. weapons approved by President Bush in 2001, stating that since the U.S. would come to Taiwan’s aid, there was no need to buy the weapons.
China’s mistrust of U.S. foreign policy wasn’t helped by the fact that Shaheen is the wife of Lawrence di Rita, spokesperson for the Pentagon and close associate of U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The message to the Chinese was that hawks in the U.S. Defense Department would push for U.S. military intervention to protect Taiwan. Earlier on, President Bush was angered when he had to personally re-affirm to Chinese premier Wen Jiabao that the U.S. was committed to the “One-China policy,” in front of the U.S. and international press.
The only way for Bush to remove doubts about his commitment to a one-China policy was to insist on the removal of Shaheen in early April, before she could attend Chen’s inauguration.
Following Chen’s inauguration, the dialogue between China and Taiwan shifted. Before the election, it was Chen who was pressing for independence so that he could get votes from his pro-independence base in southern and central Taiwan. Taipei and northern Taiwan have consistently voted to maintain the current status.
But now that Chen has taken the election, China’s anti-Taiwan independence position has increased in volume and dominance. Most of the rhetoric has been directed inwards at the Chinese population, telling them how Taiwan independence is a “disaster for all Chinese everywhere.” Above all, the statements, which come from party, government and military sources, re-affirm why Taiwan independence must be stopped by all means, even if they adversely affect the economy and Beijing’s hosting of the 2008 Olympics.
This puts Taiwan businesses in China in a special bind, since they have made more than U.S.$30 billion of investments in China since the early 1990s. Before, all of their investments were welcomed with open arms, without any questions asked. Now, they are being asked to “biaotai”, or state their positions with regard to Taiwan independence, long after their investments have been established.
The rationale for this is obvious: it is to destroy the financial backing for Taiwan independence among Taiwan businesses, and to force Taiwan company investments already made in China to take an open position against independence.
Chen’s administration already feels the pressure, and after his inauguration has forced approval of the U.S.$20 billion arms package from the U.S. through Taiwan’s legislature, and which President Bush approved in 2001.
The squeeze is on.