Hearing on lifting mainland post ban held in Taiwan

TAIPEI - Taiwanese businesspeople on Friday urged the island's authorities to lift the ban on Taiwanese people holding public posts in the Chinese mainland.

Taiwan's legislative authorities on Friday held a public hearing on an amendment to the regulation on relations of the people across the Taiwan Strait. About a dozen representatives of those doing business on the mainland were invited to offer suggestions.

Mark Yeh, executive vice chairman of the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland (ATIEM) and a specially invited member of the Guangdong provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said at the public hearing that Taiwanese businessmen can assist in the handling of issues involving Taiwan people through channels provided by the CPPCC system.

Yeh also said their involvement in the CPPCC can better protect Taiwanese businesspeople's rights and interests in the mainland.

Tseng Chan-jaw, executive vice chairman of the ATIEM and chairman of the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises in Xiamen, Fujian Province, said Taiwanese businesspeople can participate in the discussion of political affairs on the mainland through the CPPCC system.

Tseng added that they can also join the major political sessions in the mainland each year. This will help them to better understand the mainland's policies, which is conducive to the development of Taiwanese businesses on the mainland.

Taiwan invests heavily in the Chinese mainland, with more than 87,000 Taiwanese enterprises and more than 1 million Taiwanese businesspeople on the mainland.

Citing the regulation, authorities in Taiwan ban Taiwanese people from holding public posts in the mainland. However, the regulation can accommodate those taking posts as specially invited members at different levels of CPPCC committees.

Kuo Shan-hui, chairman of the ATIEM, said at the hearing that the amendment to the regulations has a direct bearing on the lives and businesses of Taiwanese businesspeople on the mainland, and he asked for the ban to be lifted.

Published in 1992, the regulation is used by Taiwanese authorities to deal with issues concerning cross-Strait exchanges in economic, trade, cultural and other fields. It has gradually become outdated, as cross-Strait relations have witnessed significant developments in recent years.

Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou said earlier this month that reviewing the regulation is currently one of the major cross-Strait issues for authorities. He called for amending some of the items of the regulation that do not fit the current circumstances, in an effort to make exchanges more reciprocal.