One of two Chinese influencers left for China last night before a midnight deadline to voluntarily leave Taiwan or risk being forcibly deported for advocating “unification by force” on social media.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) has revoked the dependent-based residency permits of two Chinese-born spouses of Taiwanese nationals — Xiaowei (小微) and Enqi (恩綺) — and they cannot reapply for five years after being reported for posting comments on Chinese social media platform Douyin about “reunifying” China and Taiwan by military force.
Enqi bought a ticket for the 6:45pm flight yesterday from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Chengdu, China, and left on schedule, the NIA said.
Photo: CNA
Xiaowei did not show up at the airport in time to board the last flight of the day to China. As of press time last night, Xiaowei was still in the country, the NIA said.
If Xiaowei failed to leave by 23:59pm yesterday, the NIA said its special operation brigade would enforce deportation.
However, the deportation would not be imposed immediately after the deadline and would be initiated this morning, it added.
Xiaowei’s Douyin profile has disappeared from the platform since last week. The government has found that she has maintained frequent contact with and has a strong connection to China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said earlier yesterday.
The two influencers were ordered to leave Taiwan less than a week after Chinese-born influencer Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), who goes by “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) online, left voluntarily on Tuesday last week for China’s Fuzhou, after receiving a similar deportation order for advocating “unification by force” on social media.
YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) led a protest at Songshan airport last Tuesday to “send off” Yaya.
He organized a similar event at 4pm at Songshan airport to send Enqi off “into the abyss.”
In an apparent attempt to avoid Pa Chiung, Enqi arrived at the airport before 3pm, accompanied by immigration officers, and cleared security checks early before flying to Chengdu.
Another YouTuber, Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), bought a one-way ticket on the same flight as Enqi to “see her off,” a post by Pa Chiung said, but Chen did not board the plane.
Chen is in the TAO's latest list of so-called "Taiwan independence thugs."
Pa Chiung said that if Xiaowei had not left her residence by 11:59pm yesterday, he would “look forward” to watching immigration agents arrest her.
Xiaowei, whose real name is Zhao Chan (趙嬋), is from Guizhou, China. She has claimed on social media that she married a Taiwanese man “purely for financial reasons” and took about NT$2.7 million (US$81,369) from him to invest in a business in Guizhou, which failed, Taiwan Association of University Professors chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said.
As neither Xiaowei nor Enqi has Taiwanese citizenship or a Taiwanese passport, immigration regulations stipulate that Chinese citizens whose dependent-based residency permits are revoked have 10 days to leave Taiwan before being forcibly deported, Liu Shyh-fang said.
Both have sought counsel from Taiwanese lawyers and have filed appeals, the minister added.
The two and their Taiwanese husbands on Friday protested outside the Presidential Office with a white banner reading: “Give back our rights as mothers.”
Both protested being separated from their families in the event of deportation. They also handed a petition to the Presidential Office’s military police.
Their actions would not affect the enforcement of the original ruling, Liu Shyh-fang said.
In the event of forced deportation, any costs incurred for airfares and other expenses would be charged to the person concerned or their guarantor in Taiwan, as stated in Article 19 of the Act Governing the Relations Between the People of Taiwan and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the NIA said.
If they fail to pay, the case would be referred to the Ministry of Justice’s Administrative Enforcement Agency for collection, it added.
Additional reporting by Wang Kuan-jen, Chen Yu-fu and CNA
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