(Clearwisdom.net) Last year, a friend of mine invested in real estate in China. Since businessmen from Taiwan are frequently targets of kidnapping and even have family members who are eliminated, he hired two bodyguards.

He had someone take a set of pictures for the purpose of advertising the real estate. The background in one of the photos had groves of bamboo with a man sitting in meditation, lingering with the charm of oriental tradition.

However, because of this picture, several employees of the company were sent to the Public Security Bureau and were detained for a long time. In the end, under pressure from the Public Security Bureau, they were forced to sign a letter guaranteeing that they have nothing to do with Falun Gong before they could be released. There are no Falun Gong practitioners in the company. However, even this law abiding company was not able to escape from this type of harassment. These types of actions on the part of the Public Security Bureau in China, which violate people's human rights, have chilled the hearts of the Taiwanese doing business in China.

My friend risked his personal safety simply to do business in China. However, he didn't make any money. Instead, the government and the Public Security Bureau persecuted him. He had coveted the advantageous conditions that were described to him and bought into the authorities' lies. After going to China, he realized he had been deceived. He realized that in China even personal security can't be guaranteed, not to mention public security, favorable economic conditions, or fair treatment by the government. My friend returned to Taiwan and no longer holds any dreams of finding gold in the business environment in Mainland China.

November 23, 2003