Ahead of Taiwan elections, China unveils friendly policies for business community

With justdaysto gobeforeTaiwan'selections, its giant neighbour is trying a push-and-pull strategy on the island Beijing claims as Chinese territory, rattling itssabrewhile trying to coax electors with outwardly friendlier policies.

Taiwan, which says it is an independent country, has long been wary of Chinese attempts to sway itselectionsin favour of candidates who may look more kindly upon Beijing.

Fear ofChinahas become a major element in the campaign, boosted not only by the anti-government protests in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong but also by a speech Chinese President Xi Jinping gave in January outliningChina's "reunification" agenda, including threats of force.

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Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and her team are pressing home a message that people need to "protect" Taiwan fromChinawhen they vote in the January 11 presidential and parliamentary election.

On Thursday,Taiwan'sDefence Ministry saidChinahad sailed another carrier group through the Taiwan Strait just weeks after the last mission.

Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu quickly took to Twitter to denounce it.

"There it goes again!" he wrote. "Military threats like this only toughenTaiwan'sdetermination to defend itself and preserve regional peace and stability."

A fewdaysbeforethat, retired but influential Chinese General Wang Hongguang outlined at a state-media organised forum in Beijing howChinacould bring Taiwan to its knees by invading its outlying islands and "terrifying" Taipei into submission.

At the same time,Chinahas rolled out policies promising better treatment for the Taiwanese business community, which has invested billions inChina, and on Saturday revised a law to give those promises a firmer legal basis.

Chinahas also encouraged Taiwanese abroad, even in places where Taiwan has its own representative offices, to seek consular help from Chinese embassies.

Taiwan saysChinahas sinister intentions, and it must defend its freedoms.

Taiwan only enjoys democracy now after decades of struggle, Tsai's running mate, William Lai, told supporters on Saturday.

"How can we go backward, and become a second Hong Kong or Tibet?" he said.

Chinahas ramped up pressure on Tsai since she won office in 2016, cutting off talks and flying bombers around Taiwan, believing she wants to push for the island's formal independence.

Tsai says Taiwan is already an independent country: the Republic ofChina, its official name.

Chinamay have overreached recently, said one senior foreign envoy in Taipei, describing Xi's January speech as effectively "Xi campaigning for Tsai" because of how badly it was received in Taiwan.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Beijing doesn't see it that way.

Jin Canrong, Deputy Dean of the School of International Studies at Beijing's elite Renmin University and a government adviser, said Xi's speech marked a shift in policy away from preventing independence to actively promoting "reunification".

Chinais confident that it could successfully use force against Taiwan, he added.

"Chinareally does have the military ability, which is the say the armed ability, to resolve the Taiwan issue," Jin said. "Although we would pay a price, in the end, we would win."

Any invasion would be bloody and difficult, asTaiwan'smilitary is well-armed, though the island could probably not hold out for long unless USforces came quickly to their aid, military experts have said.

Opposition presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu of the Kuomintang (KMT) party, which favours close ties withChinaand who is trailing in the polls, says the best way to deal withChinais to talk to Beijing and stop demonising the Chinese for electoral gain.

Han adviser Su Chi, a former general secretary ofTaiwan'sNational Security Council, said he believed Xi was actually a "dove among the hawks" when it came to Taiwan and wanted a peaceful solution.

"There are loud voices in the mainland for using force to reunify Taiwan, especially in the People's Liberation Army. I think he (Xi) doesn't really want this," Su said.

But Tsai's returning to the office would not necessarily mean relations withChinawould continue to worsen, as Beijing may realise it must talk to her, said senior legislator Lo Chih-cheng of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

"If our party or our president continues to be in power, eventuallyChinahas to come to terms with the incumbent government. They refuse to talk to the DPP because they believe the KMT had a chance to come back," he told Reuters at his campaign office in a Taipei suburb.

"After seeing the probable defeat of the KMT, leaders in Beijing may believe that in the foreseeable future the KMT may not come back to power again," he added. "So it might be reasonable or sensible for them to come to terms with the DPP government."