FAILED VENTURES:
Many Taiwanese businesspeople in China whose businesses do not succeed end up becoming homeless and need support to return, the SEF said
By Chen Yu-fu
and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said it would review its allotted budget and regulations for aiding Taiwanese with failed businesses in China, and seek to provide such individuals with the appropriate aid.
The comments came in response to reports earlier this week that the quasi-governmental Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) has exhausted the budget allotted this year for a project titled “Ensure Personal Safety of Taiwanese Businesspeople and Assist in Resolving Cross-Strait Trade Disputes.”
The Chinese government has reached out to Taiwan, stating its intent to assist with the return of Taiwanese businesspeople whose business ventures in China have failed, resulting them becoming homeless, a source in the government said.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
The foundation said it could not let these people starve in China, so it has been providing them with the airfare to return to Taiwan, adding that there were too many such individuals.
In addition, the Kinmen County Red Cross, commissioned by the foundation, is to dispatch workers to help the failed businesspeople to return, it said, adding that foundation subsidies, at 200 yuan (US$28) were insufficient to match rising costs in China’s Xiamen and Quanzhou.
The MAC has no plans to increase the budget this year, and the SEF is forced to tap into other budgets or raise funding to cover the expenses, the source said, adding that the foundation is mulling the possibility of raising funds from other Taiwanese businesspeople.
There are many cases, and some of the individuals who have returned to Taiwan are not on speaking terms with their families, so they have no place to stay, the foundation said.
These individuals had been sent to social welfare groups working with local governments, the government source said.
The MAC said on Monday that the program had been given NT$1 million (US$31,449) in funding, while the council had subsidized an additional NT$850,000.
The council is to render necessary aid in accordance with regulations, it added.
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