WEAPONIZING RELIGION?
Taiwanese who attend such events in China are ‘willing participants’ of the CCP’s ‘united front’ efforts, an anonymous official said
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By Chen Yu-fu and Lin Hsin-han / Staff reporters
A government official yesterday criticized the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for sending party officials to China to attend this year’s memorial for Fuxi, a religious event perceived as part of Beijing’s “united front” strategy against Taiwan.
Traditionally depicted as a deity with a human head and a serpent’s body, the mythological figure is revered as the primordial ancestor of Chinese civilization. He was credited with inventing fishing nets, establishing formal marriage rituals and creating early written symbols. He also drew the Eight Trigrams, which laid the philosophical, metaphysical and cosmological foundation for the I Ching (易經, “Book of Changes”).
The memorial, jointly organized by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, and the Gansu Provincial Government, was held yesterday at the Fuxi Temple in Gansu Province’s Tianshui City.
Photo: Screenshot from China Central Television’s livestream
It was broadcast live by China Central Television.
The ceremony was attended by National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference vice chairman Shao Hong (邵鴻), Taiwan Affairs Office deputy director Zhao Shitong (趙世通) and former KMT deputy chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言).
Chao and Hsia paid their respects to Fuxi by presenting flower baskets.
Gansu Provincial Governor Ren Zhenhe (任振鶴) in his address said opposing Taiwanese independence and promoting unification is the aspiration of the public, and that Hong Kong and Macao’s prosperity should be built on integration and shared benefit.
Meanwhile in Taiwan, KMT vice chairman Lee Chien-lung (李乾龍) held a memorial for the deity at Xianshi Temple in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重).
Lee serves as chairman of the temple’s board.
Fuxi memorials are a form of religious united front work and have strong nationalist overtones, a Taiwanese official familiar with Chinese affairs said yesterday on condition of anonymity.
Taiwanese who attend such events in China are “willing participants of the Chinese Communist Party’s [CCP] united front efforts,” particularly KMT members, the official said, adding that Chinese who come to Taiwan to attend Fuxi memorials are also subject to close scrutiny.
“Taiwan’s nine-in-one election is less than six months away. The CCP would try every means possible to lure Taiwanese over and sway their perceptions about China. However, the Chinese government is short on funds nowadays. The event is a complete waste of money,” the official said.
In response, Lee said people should not be too sensitive about religious activities.
“People have freedom of religion. Taiwan and China share the same language, belong to the same race and come from the same veins. Many deities we worship are from China, and Fuxi is one of them. Tracking the origin is a Chinese virtue,” Lee said.
