Translation of two September 4 Storm Media reports

Storm: ‘Taiwanese policy work was completely wrong’: Xi Jinping (習近平) calls out Chen Yunlin (陳雲林)

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) has stationed itself inside the PRC Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), serving notice to China’s Taiwan network and Taiwanese business community. An ROC (Taiwan) cross-strait official divulges that according to the information the office has gotten hold of, after Taiwan’s nine-in-one elections Chairman Xi Jinping in an internal meeting criticized former ARATS and TAO chief Chen Yunlin for his “erroneous methods” which had caused Taiwan policy to produce poor results. Hence, the CCDI’s investigation of Chen Yunlin [S.tw: more on that in the next report] is not just “wind blowing through an opening.” Our government source believes that the PRC anti-corruption campaign aside, the true purpose of the CCDI investigation is to put the nation’s Taiwan network on notice that policy work on Taiwan affairs will no longer run on mutual exchanges of benefits.

There are numerous rumors within the Taiwanese business community that the CCDI stationed itself in the TAO to investigate Chen Yunlin. A knowledgeable official divulged that high-ranking Chinese officials were shocked during and after the anti-Cross-Strait Agreement on Trade in Services movement when their years of work on Taiwan were seen by Taiwanese as benefiting just a few people and this sentiment expanded into antipathy toward cross-strait relations and China itself.

Then, to their surprise, not only was the blue camp piteously defeated in the nine-in-one elections because of its China-friendly policy, but China’s Taiwan network was unable to get an accurate reading of the campaign, which forced elite officials to recognize the need to rectify its entire Taiwan policy network.

According to a source, in an internal meeting after the election concluded, Xi Jinping asked why the government’s Taiwan policy was unable to win the approval of Taiwanese citizens, and why Taiwanese are becoming more anti-China by the day. He also mentioned Chen Yunlin by name, saying that all his methods, strategies, and objectives “were completely wrong” (完全錯誤).

A knowledgeable source says that the TAO’s reports had originally led Xi Jinping to believe that the KMT would hold onto Taipei City. When the TAO’s prediction was proven wrong, Xi was infuriated. He demanded the Taiwan network write a review report of what had happened. In the first report it submitted Xi, the Taiwan network repeated its past rhetoric by blaming the Democratic Progressive Party for “fanning the flames of the Taiwanese citizens.” Xi believed this report was unable to explain the real problem and demanded it be rewritten.

In the second report, the Taiwan network stated that Taiwan policy had failed because the economic and trade network’s policy of benefiting Taiwan had been ineffective. The economic and policy network, in respond, blamed the TAO for being unable to communicate to the Taiwanese people the benefits of cross-strait economic and trade exchanges. This “he said, she said” displeased Xi, who once again demanded that the Taiwan network’s report be resubmitted.

In order to satisfy Xi, on its third try the Taiwan network felt it had to ask Taiwanese businesspeople for their views. The Taiwanese businesspeople responded that the Ma administration’s performance has been poor. According to a knowledgeable source, the Chinese officials then bit the bullet and wrote this feedback into their report. They unexpectedly said the Ma administration’s too-low approval rating caused the KMT’s defeat and had even led people to become sick of cross-strait relations. Xi found this report acceptable and thought it close to the truth, and its conclusion has been one of the themes of the writings of China’s Taiwan think tank over the past half-year.

Based on this conclusion, Xi believes that the TAO must reverse Taiwanese society’s attitude about cross-strait relations, so it must change its method of working through Taiwanese political and business elites. Its first task must be to eliminate “compradors” (買辦) from cross-strait relations.

According to a knowledgeable official, this new direction not only matches Xi’s anti-corruption campaign; it can cut off the channels of personal creation and exchanges of wealth inside the Taiwan network in order to realize the goal of “allowing the Taiwanese people to share in the benefits of peaceful cross-strait development.”



Storm: Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption sword strikes the TAO: rumors CCDI has locked in on Chen Yunlin, investigating his cross-strait political and business relationships

Communist Party of China General Secretary Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign, which he has pushed since taking over, turned toward the government’s Taiwan network in the middle of this year. At the end of April, the CCDI visited the Communist Party’s Taiwan office (one and the same as the TAO in reality though they are technically different in name) and then officially stationed itself there. Although information about specific cases it is pursuing has not been disclosed, word is rife in the Taiwanese business community that the CCDI’s target is former ARATS chairman and TAO chief Chen Yunlin, who has a good relationship with Taiwan’s political and business communities [S.tw: his visit sparked the Wild Strawberries movement btw]. The party is newly re-investigating the suspected massive embezzlement of Taiwanese policy funding years ago by Chen’s wife Lai Xiaohua (賴曉華); it could also uncover facts about the political and business relationships Chen made during his term in office.

Cross-strait relations have shifted slightly since the nine-in-one elections. Xi and high-ranking officials with Taiwan portfolios have reiterated multiple times that they must destroy the problem of the benefits of cross-strait peace being monopolized by a few compradors, and instead Taiwanese citizens should be able to all enjoy the benefits.

Taiwan’s political world has been unmoved by such remarks. However, a source involved in cross-strait policy says that at the end of April the TAO suddenly announced that the CCDI United Front Work Department discipline inspection group had stationed itself in the Communist Party Taiwan office for research into “clean government work.” It openly announced this would deepen the development of clean government and anti-corruption work. Zhang Zhijun (張志軍), leader of the party Taiwan office, emphasized that the office would actively support and collaborate with the division’s monitoring and inspection.

More than two months later, in early July, the CCDI oversight committee announced that following a special inspection of the party Taiwan office, not only the Taiwan office but also ARATS as well as retired senior officials of the two organizations would be investigated.

Still more curiously, besides demanding strict adherence to clean government and anti-corruption work from the Taiwan work departments, the CCDI explicitly announced that it would stay in the Taiwan office until at least the end of August, and it encouraged everyone to make reports to its contact window about “problems” with Taiwan work.

According to the Taiwanese business community, although no specific cases have been mentioned, Chen Yunlin is probably the CCDI’s target. An elite Taiwanese businessman with over 20 years of experience in cross-strait business divulged that in his more than 11 years running the TAO, Chen was instrumental in breaking the ice between the KMT and CPC via the meeting between Lien Chan 連戰 and Hu Jintao 胡錦濤. Furthermore, Chen established deep personal relationships with several Taiwanese business and political figures. Hence, once Xi announced he would break the control of compradors over cross-strait relations, Chen, who has good relationships with those politicians and businessmen who have been labeled compradors, is sure to be the primary target.

In fact, at the end of 2010 there was word that the CCDI was investigating Lai Xiaohua on suspicion that she had colluded with Wang Xinliang (王新亮), son of former TAO leader Wang Zhaoguo (王兆國), to embezzle more than US$100 million of funds intended for Taiwan affairs. Afterward, because Wang Zhaoguo rose to vice chairman of the National People’s Congress and Hu Jintao did not make fighting corruption an administrative priority, the matter was not investigated further.

However, last year as the anti-services pact controversy got hotter and hotter, there was word across the strait that Lai Xiaohua had embezzled at least US$10 million through different channels of the TAO and the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland. When it became clear later that the organizations’ books didn’t add up, the TAO was forced to ask Taiwanese businesspeople to use the accounts of Taiwan Associations and the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland to cover the hole. The Taiwanese businessmen were so infuriated by this request that they were speechless, but for the sake of their businesses they gave in and covered the loss.

According to a Taiwanese businessperson, when Chen Yunlin ran the TAO during Taiwan’s Lee and Chen administrations, Taiwanese investment in China was still not systematic, and cross-strait relations were not good, so most things were done through private channels. The line between personal investment and government Taiwan work was hazy. Hence, there have been many unproven rumors of beneficial relationships between China’s Taiwan hands and certain Taiwanese politicians and businessmen.

The CCDI has now announced its stay at the Taiwan office has concluded, and there is curiosity about whether it will launch another investigation or announce its results. Taiwanese businesspeople in China believe that given the sensitivity of Taiwan work, even if Chen Yunlin’s relationships with Taiwanese politicians and businessmen were investigated, the results may never be publicized because of the effect they could have on cross-strait relations.