BEIJING, Jan. 14 — A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Wednesday criticized Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities for showing no resistance when confronted with overt bullying and exploitation by external forces but instead moving to accommodate those forces.
Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, commented in response to a question about a report that Taiwan and the United States are nearing a trade agreement to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent, while committing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
(TSMC) to building at least five more facilities in the United States. The report has sparked concerns that the DPP is trading investment for tariff favors.
The so-called agreement amounts to economic exploitation of Taiwan by the United States through high tariffs, aimed at siphoning off the island’s industrial strength, Zhu said at a regular press briefing.
It reveals not only the self-interested nature of the United States, but also Washington’s underlying intention of viewing Taiwan as a strategic pawn, she added. The DPP authorities demonstrated no resistance.
Instead, they offered Taiwan’s core technological strengths as a bargaining chip to gain favor, Zhu said.
Noting that the DPP authorities had effectively surrendered before tariff negotiations even started, making ever greater concessions, Zhu argued that such an approach will only undermine Taiwan’s economic prospects and damage the long-term interests of its people. (Namibia Daily News/Xinhua)
