A civic organization yesterday accused the government of starting a “new White Terror era” after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers passed a slew of national security laws over the past two months.
The amendments to the National Security Act (國家安全法) stipulates a prison sentence of at least seven months for people who are in contact with Chinese communist organizations, Taiwan Area Victims of Political Persecution Mutual Aid Association chairman Lin Yao-chung (林耀呈) told a news conference in Taipei.
The amendments put at risk filmmakers, entertainers, businesspeople, academics or ordinary citizens visiting China, he said, adding that the law is a “White Terror article that terrorizes all Taiwanese.”
Changes made to the definition of treason in the Criminal Code apply broadly to those who collude with the authorities in China, Hong Kong and Macau, and threatens Taiwanese groups or political parties conducting “democratic negotiations” with Beijing with capital punishment, Lin said.
The new treason law severely infringes upon the freedom of thought and speech, and is a potential menace to those who publicly affirm the belief that Taiwan and China should be unified peacefully, he added.
The DPP legislators’ push to draft legislation against “Chinese surrogates” would severely impede exchanges between Taiwanese groups and China, Lin said, adding that the new laws should be abolished.
The group handed a public letter of complaint to the Presidential Office later in the day.
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