Taipei Times
Date: Sep 10, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff Reporter
The government’s plan to open up mutual funds to Chinese investment amounts to “smuggling
Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang, right, speaks about the review procedure of the draft cross-strait agreement oversight act yesterday in Taipei. Photo: Cheng Hung-ta, Taipei Times
through” the cross-strait service trade agreement — which formed the focus of the 2014 Sunflower movement — without legislative approval, critics said yesterday, while calling for supervisory legislation to be reviewed by a special joint legislative committee.
“At a time when the Cabinet has not passed the cross-strait service trade agreement, Premier Lin Chuan’s (林全) Cabinet is trying to smuggle through one of the provisions of the agreement,” Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said, citing the Cabinet’s decision earlier this month to relax restrictions on Chinese investment in Taiwanese mutual funds.
Financial Supervisory Commission Vice Chairman Kuei Hsien-nung (桂先農) earlier this month said that the government would relax restrictions on Chinese visitors, allowing them to invest up to US$500 million in New Taiwan dollar denominated mutual funds while in the nation — and allowing Chinese outside the nation to invest in foreign-currency-denominated funds that track Taiwanese stocks and bonds. [FULL STORY]