(TibetanReview.net, Nov06’21) – Calling them “diehard separatists”, China has on Nov 5 placed some of the top leaders of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan on a no-entry list with threats of further sanctions and life-long criminal liability, said the taipeitimes.com and other news reports Nov 6, including China’s official Xinhua news agency Nov 5. The moved provoked anger and ridicule in the self-governing island whose DPP leaders say Taiwan is already an independent country and will defend its freedom and democracy from any onslaught from China.
China sees Taiwan as a renegade province destined to be retaken, including by military annexation, if necessary.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian has called them part of “an extremely small minority of diehard Taiwanese separatists who caused extreme harm … to the fundamental interests of the Chinese race.”
China would also take “any other necessary measures” against these people, Zhu has further said.
This is the first time China has spelled out the punishment that awaits people deemed to back independence for Taiwan, including top officials of the self-ruled island, as tension rises over what China regards as a province of its own.
China’s move means Taiwan’s Premier Su Tseng-chang, Legislative Speaker You Si-kun, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu would face life-long legal consequences should they set foot in China, including Hong Kong and Macau, or conduct business with entities there.
Zhu has said in a statement Nov 5 that China will enforce punishment for those on the list by not letting them enter the mainland and its Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Such blacklisted individuals will not be allowed to cooperate with entities or people from the mainland, nor will their companies, or entities which fund them, be allowed to profit from the mainland, she has added.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council has responded by saying, “We do not accept intimidation and threats from an autocratic and authoritarian region.”
Foreign Minister Joseph Wu has welcomed the blacklisting by calling it a recognition and honour while vowing to keep fighting for Taiwan’s freedom and democracy in a Twitter post on Nov 6.
