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Crack down on “separatists”
Beijing has released a blacklist of 10 senior Taiwanese politicians who could be sentenced to death in absentia under a new law.
Taiwan’s Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim was labeled a “separatist.”
Photos: Keystone, EPA
The Chinese government has called on citizens to report Taiwan’s “stubborn separatists” and their crimes. That is, Taiwanese who allegedly call for Taiwan’s independence from China. The State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office and the Ministry of State Security published the call on their websites in August. The aim is to “punish the separatists’ serious crimes in accordance with the law.”
Beijing has released a list of 10 current and former Taiwanese government officials, calling them “diehard separatists.” They include Vice President Bi-khim Hsiao, who served as a special envoy to the United States before the election, and Former Foreign Minister Joseph WuCurrent Chairman of the Taiwan Security Council.
Citizens should provide information to authorities
The Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing set up an email address where citizens can send in their reports. The newly created website also contains media reports on other cases in which the Chinese government has accused companies and organizations of supporting Taiwanese independence.
China’s Anti-Secession Law from 2005 is also posted on the site. It is designed to allow the country to intervene militarily if Taiwan “splits” or, as the law states, “all options for achieving peaceful reunification have been exhausted.”
The Communist Party claims sovereignty over the coastal island republic, which has been politically separate from the mainland since the Chinese civil war in 1949 and considers Taiwan a province of the People’s Republic of China. Beijing has been ratcheting up pressure for years as most of Taiwan’s 24 million people today reject unification with the communist country.
Chinese warships regularly enter Taiwan’s waters and fighter jets fly around the island. The regime hopes to force Taiwan to give up through economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation. In January, a new president, Lai Ching-te, was elected, whom Beijing also describes as a separatist. A new wave of repression.
Taiwan has three major political parties. The pro-China parties – the Kuomintang and the Taiwan People’s Party – advocate closer ties with Beijing, while the Democratic Progressive Party promotes greater independence. However, the ruling party has not pushed for a formal declaration of independence as Beijing claims.
Chinese judicial authorities want to try Taiwanese
On the contrary, most Taiwanese do not want to shake up the status quo and thus anger Beijing. Lai Ching-te stressed that Taiwan is already a sovereign and independent countryso it doesn’t have to formally declare independence. Taiwan is effectively independent politically: It has its own legal system, currency and free elections.
Although China’s official newspaper Global Times said in response to calls to report alleged separatists that the measure was not aimed at most Taiwanese “compatriots,” it was likely intended for intimidation purposes. Under a recently introduced law, Chinese judicial authorities can try people accused of attempting to split the country in the courts of the People’s Republic of China, even in their absence. The maximum penalty for those convicted is death, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The Taiwanese government was furious. The office that manages relations with the People’s Republic of China in Taiwan made it clear that Beijing has no legal sovereignty over Taiwan and its laws are not binding on the Taiwanese.
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