MAC says China's economic plan "politically driven"

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on March 28, 2006. It reports that the Mainland Affairs Council in Taiwan recently dismissed China's plan to build a new economic zone on its southeastern coast as a "political scheme". According to the council, China attempts to localize the government in Taiwan and turns the nation into another regional economy that is similar to Hong Kong.

Officials from the Mainland Affairs Council urged the Chinese authorities to instead develop normal economic relations with Taiwan, in order to facilitate the normalization of relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabo recently proposed a plan to build a economic zone along its southeastern coast, which aimed at turning Fujian Province into one of China's major regional economic blocks. It will be similar to the Pan-Pearl River Delta with Hong Kong as its center, and the Yangtze River Delta economic zone surrounding Shanghai.

However, according to the Mainland Affairs Council in Taiwan, the political implications of this plan are significant, because cross-strait exchanges will become pat of China's domestic affairs if the plan is implemented. The council will closely monitor the development of this plan in order to protect Taiwan's rights and interests and to ensure the smooth development of cross-strait relations.