China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday.
“China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail.
The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said.
Photo copied by Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats and legal pressure only exacerbate tensions and undermine cross-strait peace and stability,” the spokesperson said.
“The United States will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s provocative and irresponsible actions,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson’s remarks came after China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Wednesday last week announced that it had launched a new section on its official Web site for reporting independence advocates.
The new section allows people to report “vile acts by those advocating ‘Taiwanese independence’ and their accomplices in persecuting Taiwanese compatriots,” Xinhua news agency reported.
Certain organizations, government officials and online influencers have acted as enforcers of “Taiwanese independence” and their accomplices, “abetting wrongdoing and facilitating aggression,” Xinhua quoted TAO spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) as saying.
Later on Wednesday, the TAO issued a news release saying that as of 5pm, it had received 323 e-mails reporting people for “vile acts,” such as “threatening to disband patriotic pro-unification groups and openly infringing on the legitimate rights of Chinese spouses in Taiwan.”
The people reported included Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳), several Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers, YouTubers Pa Chiung (八炯) and Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), and United Microelectronics Corp founder Robert Tsao (曹興誠), the financial backer of nonprofit civil defense organization Kuma Academy.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday criticized the new reporting system, calling the move “a full-scale interference in Taiwan’s internal affairs.”
“It also proves that Taiwan must remain vigilant,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS