TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Foreign companies are weighing moving their Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty for “Taiwan independence die-hards,” Reuters reported on Thursday (July 4).
Four sources told Reuters that these measures have prompted some Taiwanese businesspeople and multinational firms operating in China to rush to evaluate the legal repercussions.
James Zimmerman, a partner at the Beijing office of the law firm Perkins Coie, said several companies have approached them to assess the risks to their employees. Zimmerman for confidentiality reasons declined to disclose the names of the companies or industries.
Zimmerman said the companies are concerned that the ambiguous language of the new rules could result in legal gray areas “such as whether a benign social media post or voting for a particular political party or candidate in Taiwan elections could be interpreted as engaging in pro-independence activities.”
According to Taiwan government statistics, as of 2022, nearly 177,000 Taiwanese are working in China. Many foreign multinationals operating in China hire Taiwanese because of their advantages such as language and cultural familiarity.
Many more Taiwanese work for the numerous Taiwanese companies operating in China. According to Taiwanese government estimates, these companies have invested over US$200 billion (NT$6.49 trillion) in China since 1991.
Two business executives said that some foreign firms operating in China have already held safety meetings with staff. Another source said some Taiwanese posted in China have received and accepted the option to exit the country.
Sung Wen-Ti (宋文迪), a fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub, said these rules would compel foreign firms either to completely withdraw their operations to retain Taiwanese talent or to cease hiring Taiwanese talent. Sung said the result could be “even fewer Taiwanese will be working or living in China, thereby making Beijing's attempts to win over their hearts and minds even harder.”
