China drafts laws to attract Taiwan

China is drafting policies to attract Taiwanese to live and work on the mainland, a government spokesman said Wednesday, in a direct appeal to the island’s population amid a deepening political standoff between the governments in Taipei and Beijing.

The Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office said Wednesday that residents of the self-governing island democracy will be offered incentives in employment, education and government benefits.

Speaking at a bimonthly news conference, spokesman An Fengshan said the measures, to be rolled out at a time yet to be determined, aim to boost “economic and social integration between the sides.”

Beijing froze government-to-government contacts with Taiwan in June over Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s refusal to endorse the concept of a single Chinese nation. Since then, Beijing has been increasing diplomatic and economic pressure on the island it claims as its own territory.

The latest measures appear to represent the carrot to that stick, although previous attempts to win over Taiwanese through the pocketbook have had little effect. Around 1 million Taiwanese are believed to live in China, either full or part time, mainly for work and study.

An also lashed out at plans to visit Taiwan by the exiled leader of a Chinese ethnic minority regarded by Beijing as seeking independence for the vast northwestern region of Xinjiang.

President of the World Uyghur Congress Rebiya Kadeer plans to travel to the island at the end of next month at the invitation of a minor pro-independence political party, the Taiwan Solidarity Union, which is allied with Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party.