Tuesday, February 1, 2011

陈光标行善被批 凸显台湾疑心 Chinese philanthropist raises Taiwan’s suspicion

Early last Friday morning, a crowd of people waited outside Taipei’s Grand Hotel hoping to catch a glimpse of Chen Guangbiao, a Chinese businessman and philanthropist on a personal mission to hand out T$500m ($16m) in cash to the poor in Taiwan.

上周五清早的台北,一大群人守候在圆山大饭店门外,希望能看一眼陈光标。这位大陆企业家和慈善家此次赴台,打算以个人名义,向台湾穷人派发5亿新台币(合1600万美元)的现金。

They had been encouraged by Mr Chen’s first act of charity after arriving in Taipei on Wednesday night. Stopped by an unemployed lady who told of having to take care of her 88-year-old mother, Mr Chen immediately gave her T$70,000 in red envelopes commonly handed out around Chinese New Year.

陈光标周三晚抵台后首个慈善之举,让这群人受到了鼓舞。当时,陈光标被一位自称要照顾88岁老母的失业女性拦下,随即给了她7万新台币的红包。发红包是中国农历新年期间的一个传统。

Mr Chen’s philanthropy, however, has drawn a storm of criticism in Taiwan from politicians and commentators, highlighting Taiwan’s deep-seated distrust of Chinese money, even as it is advancing economic ties with its bigger neighbour.

然而,陈光标的慈善行为却招致台湾政客和评论人士异常激烈的批评。这突出表明,尽管两岸经济关系不断加深,但台湾对大陆资金的不信任根深蒂固。

Taiwan Brains Trust, a pro-opposition party think tank, said Mr Chen's visit “creates suspicions that it is part of China's United Front strategy” to force reunification.

支持反对党的新台湾国策智库(Taiwan Brains Trust)表示,陈光标访台不禁让人怀疑,这是大陆统战战略的一部分。

Meanwhile, Chiu Yi-ying, an opposition legislator, said the visit harms Taiwan's national dignity. “[Mr Chen] “is clearly here to say 'I have a lot of money and am here to throw it around,” she said.

同时,反对党立法委员邱议莹(Chiu Yi-ying)表示:“(陈光标)摆明是来台湾宣示,‘老子就是很有钱,我拿钱来撒,你们排队领钱。’”

The criticism and suspicion underline how, despite an improvement in relations, Taiwan – over which Beijing still claims sovereignty – remains largely closed to Chinese businesses.

这些批评和怀疑的声音表明,尽管两岸关系有所好转,但台湾——中国政府仍宣称对其拥有主权——很大程度上仍不对大陆企业开放。

Taiwan only allowed Chinese investment into the country after mid-2009. So far, it has attracted only $132m, compared to at least $200bn in investments by Taiwanese businessmen into China over past decades.

直到2009年年中,台湾才开始允许大陆对台投资。迄今为止,仅吸引到了1.32亿美元。相比之下,过去几十年间台商共在大陆投资了至少2000亿美元。

Mr Chen has a record as a philanthropist – donating to the fundraising around the Sichuan earthquake in 2008 and giving Rmb5m through charitable organisations such as the Red Cross after Taiwan was hit by Typhoon Morakot in 2009.

陈光标以前就曾多次开展过慈善活动。他曾在2008年四川大地震后捐款,并在2009年“莫拉克”台风重创台湾后,通过红十字会等慈善组织,捐款500万元人民币。

However, this is the first time that any Chinese philanthropist has visited Taiwan to make donations in person. On his blog, Mr Chen said one of the purposes of his trip was to “let my Taiwanese brothers and sisters feel warmth in the winter and the well-wishes of their comrades from the motherland”.

不过,这是中国慈善家首次以个人名义赴台捐款。陈光标在自己的博客上表示,此次赴台的目的之一是“让这些兄弟姐妹们感受到冬日的温暖,感受到来自祖国大陆同胞们的温情。”

Taiwan and China have been rivals since 1949, when the Kuomintang party fled mainland China after losing the civil war to the communists.

1949年,国民党在内战中败给共产党后,从大陆逃到台湾。此后,两岸便一直处于敌对状态。

But since Taiwan’s president Ma Ying-jeou was elected in 2008, relations between the two sides have greatly improved. Last year, they signed a landmark trade deal, the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (Ecfa), which lowers tariffs and opens up markets on both sides of the Strait.

但自从2008年马英九当选台湾总统以来,两岸关系明显改善。去年,双方签署了一份具有里程碑意义的贸易协议——“两岸经济合作框架协议”(ECFA)。根据该协议,两岸将互降关税,并开放市场。

This more congenial political environment, together with growing Chinese demand for Taiwanese exports have yielded a “peace dividend” for Taiwan, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Frank Wang.

摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)分析师王安亚(Frank Wang)表示,这种更加友善的政治气候,加之大陆对台湾出口商品的需求与日俱增,使台湾成为了“和平红利”的受惠者。

As the controversy around Mr Chen's visit shows, however, there is still a high degree of sensitivity over Chinese funds in Taiwan. A high profile deal by China Mobile to take a stake in Taiwan's telecoms group Far Eastone in 2009 was blocked by the Taiwan government.

不过,围绕着陈光标访台的争议表明,大陆对台投资仍是一个高度敏感的话题。2009年,中国移动(China Mobile)欲收购台湾远传电信(Far EasTone)部分股份的高调交易,就遭到了台湾政府的阻拦。

Also, Hong Kong-based Primus' attempt to buy Nan Shan, one of Taiwan's biggest life insurers, came under heavy scrutiny over whether the bid was backed by Chinese funds, although it was eventually rejected for separate reasons.

此外,总部位于香港的博智金融(Primus)试图收购台湾最大寿险商之一——南山人寿(Nan Shan)的交易,也受到了台湾政府的严格审查,以查明此笔交易背后是否有大陆资金,不过这宗交易最终因其他原因而受阻。

George Tsai, a cross-Strait expert, said “a sense of insecurity and the importance of dignity” still played an important role in the Taiwanese mentality.

两岸关系专家蔡玮(George Tsai)表示,台湾人心里仍有强烈的“不安全感和尊严意识”。

“Even the idea that China gave Taiwan concessions during the Ecfa negotiations made some people in Taiwan feel humiliated,” he said.

“就连大陆在框架协议谈判期间,对台湾做出了一些让步这个事实,也让台湾一些人感到羞辱,”他表示。

Cross-Strait tensions still occasionally flare up. Two weeks ago, Taiwan tested anti-air missiles on the day Chinese president Hu Jintao travelled to the US.

两岸间的紧张局势时而仍会加剧。两周前,就在中国国家主席胡锦涛访美当日,台湾试射了多枚防空导弹。

China, meanwhile, wanted to refer to Taiwan as its “core interest” – a controversial term in Taiwan – in the joint statement issued by Mr Hu and Barack Obama, US president, according to Raymond Burghardt, US envoy to Taiwan. However, the US rejected that idea, saying it “kept Taiwan in mind”, he added.

与此同时,据美国在台协会(AIT)主席薄瑞光(Raymond Burghardt)称,大陆想在胡锦涛与美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)发表的联合声明中,将台湾称为自己的“核心利益”——这一说法在台湾备受争议——但美方拒绝了这一提议,称美国“将台湾放在心上”。

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