Beijing’s pilot zone for economic integration with Taiwan running out of steam
By 2022 there were over 3,000 people and nearly 1,300 enterprises from Taiwan in Pingtan, Fujian, but the cross-strait beacon is dimming
A decade later, on a Friday morning in November, the factory in Pingtan, Fujian province, which was once featured on prime-time state television as a success story, appears deserted with its gates locked and rusting, and the production site seemingly abandoned. A security guard said the plant was closed and the company was not hiring, as a dog inside the gate barked at anyone who approached.
The economic aspect was meant to be part of Beijing’s broader integration strategy and was combined with punitive policies and military pressure on what it sees as the island’s pro-independence forces.
But many Taiwanese businesses that moved to Pingtan in the past 15 years, including TPK, are not doing as well as they used to, with analysts describing the progress of economic integration in Pingtan as “limited”.
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