Taiwan Opens Way for More China Contacts

The ruling Nationalist Party on Tuesday approved a dramatic expansion of unofficial ties with China, including indirect investment by Taiwanese businessmen, indirect importation of raw materials and the opening of Taiwan to visits by some Chinese citizens.

The new policy, in the form of guidelines that must be defined by the government, sets the stage for potentially massive Taiwanese participation in the economic modernization of China.

“The final objective of our party is to allow manufacturers, industrialists or investors here in Taiwan to go across the Taiwan Strait to the Chinese mainland to set up their plants or . . . firms,” Hsiao Chang-lo, director of the party’s Department of Mainland Affairs, said at a news conference.

The party does not want to allow direct investment yet, Hsiao said, so, for the immediate future, investment funds must be channeled through companies in such places as Hong Kong.

Party spokesman Raymond Tai explained that “we don’t want to have direct trade and investment because that gets involved in banking, taxes and direct communication.”

Welcomes Investment

China has welcomed investment from Taiwan and increased contacts of other kinds in the belief that this will contribute to China’s economic development and to the ultimate reunification of Taiwan and mainland.

The new Nationalist Party policy authorizes visits to Taiwan by several categories of Chinese citizens, including:

-- People who want to visit seriously ill members of their immediate families or to attend funerals of relatives.

-- Students, scholars and other intellectuals who oppose communism or have fought for academic freedom. Hsiao said this applies to people in China and Chinese citizens in third countries such as the United States.

Approval would also be granted for some journalists, cultural workers, artists and entertainers from Taiwan to visit China. The new policy is vague on whether Chinese citizens in these categories would be permitted to visit Taiwan.

Last year Taiwan approved visits to China by people who have relatives on the mainland, except for officials of the Taiwan government and members of the Taiwan military. But most native-born Taiwanese have no close relatives in China.

Violations of these restrictions have generally gone unpunished, and when there is punishment, it is usually a one- or two-year restriction on overseas travel.

The Communist government in Beijing and the Nationalist government in Taipei, which fled the mainland in 1949 after the Communist takeover, both claim to be the legitimate government of the entire country. This has often made it impossible for both Taipei and Beijing to be represented in international bodies and at international events.

As part of its action Tuesday, the Nationalist Party approved participation in international sports competitions under guidelines similar to those under which Taiwan and China appeared in the Olympic Games at Los Angeles in 1984.

‘No Contact’ Policy

The new policy specifies that Taiwan will continue its longstanding attitude of “no contact, no negotiation, no compromise” with Beijing. But it now makes it clear that this is a “government” position that does not rule out person-to-person contacts.

Even without official party or government approval, Taiwanese businessmen have made significant investments in China and carried out considerable trade, in some cases risking prosecution.

Trade last year with China, most of it indirect but some by fishermen directly across the Taiwan Strait, is estimated at $2 billion.