I don’t know where I saw this. I think it was about three years ago. One sentence in an article about China and Taiwan said something about how China budgets/gives Taiwan something like $37 as a symbolic gesture of the idea that Taiwan is still a part of China.
Does anyone know anything about this. I keep searching but I can’t find it.
I tried searching and came up with nothing. But I do recall some casual notes from years ago to precisely this effect: that there’s an allocation in a symbolic amount in the (PR) China budget, and the amount (37 yuan or something of the sort) is tied to the fact that de jure Taiwan is China’s 37th province (or whatever the right number is).
Remember that the claims of both the Beijing and Taipei governments for most of the Cold War is that there was only one China, of which they individually were the sole legitimate government. Each took symbolic steps to underscore that point, like having vacant seats on the legislature in Beijing representing Taiwan, and Taipei having superannuated representatives in its legislature who were the last people elected from Kiangsu or Kwangtung before the Maoist takeover. (Part of the importance of Quemoy and Matsu was not merely that they were Taiwan-held islands adjacent to the mainland, but that they were the surviving pieces of Fujian province still loyal to the KMT --symbolically they showed that KMT China was not just the province of Taiwan but still was the de jure legitimate government of the mainland, being the second province represented in the legislature by free elections.)
Awww, that’s so sweet. It’s nice to know when your sugar daddy still loves you.