The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday admonished Beijing for “attempting to scare Taiwanese into self-censorship” after Chinese media reported that Beijing was compiling a list of “Taiwanese separatists.”
The Chinese-language Ta Kung Pao — a Hong Kong-based newspaper run by the Chinese government through the Hong Kong Liaison Office — yesterday reported that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was compiling “a list of stubborn Taiwanese separatists and will severely punish them in accordance with [China’s] Anti-Secession Law and hold them accountable for their actions for the rest of their lives.”
The report said that “Taiwan separatists” had become “rampant and arrogant” in their activities, and that the CCP would list them to strike back with force.
However, the the newspaper did not list any names or elaborate on which actions it was monitoring.
The council yesterday said that the threat would only serve to “incite antagonism, and destroy peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
“China is an authoritarian dictatorship. From the start, it has used its military to bully people and force its laws on them. It threatens those with different ideas and coerces them into accepting its terms,” it said, adding that “the Republic of China is a free and democratic nation.”
Taiwanese would not give up their values because of the threats, the council said.
“Beijing must accept that both sides of the Strait have separate governments. It should approach political issues through pragmatic communication or suffer the consequences,” it said.
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