Posted on 12/20/2001 4:49:33 AM PST by Enemy Of The State
The Ministry of Economic Affairs "does not encourage" Taiwanese companies operating in China getting involved with the Chinese Communist Party, Minister of Eco-nomic Affairs Lin Hsin-yi (ªL«H¸q) said yesterday.
Fielding questions at the Legislative Yuan, Lin said reports of the opening last Saturday of a Chinese Communist Party branch office in Shenzhen-based Foxconn, an offshoot of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, "is an issue that should be faced squarely and dealt with."
Foxconn is the first Taiwanese-owned company to publicly set up a Chinese Communist Party cell, even though the party is believed to have secretly set up cells in many other Taiwanese-owned firms.
The Foxconn cell consists of 144 communist party members who are also the company's employees.
On Saturday, the cell elected a seven-member party committee and a five-member disciplinary committee. All of the 144 members are Chinese citizens.
Hon Hai's chairman Kuo Tai-ming (³¢¥x»Ê) did not attend the founding ceremony, but instead sent a written message praising the party cadres.
Lin said that the economics ministry would stay in close contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) to gain a better understanding of alleged communist party "infiltration" of Taiwanese-financed business and industrial enterprises in China.
Lin made the remarks in response to a question from Chiu Chui-chen (ªô««s), a DPP legislator. Chiu said that the Chinese Communist Party is aggressively recruiting China-based Taiwanese business people to organize party branch operations in an attempt to increase the effectiveness the party's "united front" overtures toward Taiwan.
Chiu asked Lin whether he knew how many Taiwanese companies had investments in China and what the government would do if all Taiwanese firms operating in China became "communized" and their staffs return to Taiwan to vote.
Lin said that US$19.4 billion had been invested in China by more than 20,000 companies, although Chinese authorities put the figure at around US$45 billion.
Lin admitted that, if true, communist party involvement in Tai-wanese firms in China "is not a good thing," but said that it is only happening on a small scale and was not seen as having a major impact on the companies' operations.
Meanwhile, the MAC said that it is investigating communist party operations at Foxconn and would determine whether they constitute a violation of Taiwanese law.
The director of the MAC's legal affairs department, Johnnason Liu (¼B¼w¾±), said that the Foxconn case was an exception, not part of a growing trend.
He called on China, however, to support Taiwanese corporate investment and to defend these companies' rights, rather than turn them into political pawns.
That includes US corporations doing business there.
And, the US will not know who is the top ChiCom in the company. The janitor might actually be the highest ranking party member whom the Chinese top businessman in the US firm actually has to answer to.
This is very very serious.
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