The government yesterday accused China of transnational repression after Chinese state media and social media accounts widely circulated personal information about Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋), including satellite photographs of his residence and workplace in Taipei.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said China’s state-controlled media were using “digital authoritarianism” and the “despicable” tactic of doxxing to threaten Taiwanese, attempting to create fear and a chilling effect in Taiwan’s democratic society.
Strait Plus (今日海峽), a media channel operated by a Chinese state-controlled media organization, on Friday wrote on Facebook that a Chinese influencer had revealed the location of Shen’s residence and workplace.
Photo: Taipei Times
Strait Plus quoted the influencer as saying that she had paid for commercial satellite imagery of Taipei and marked Shen’s residence and workplace on it.
China’s Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau last year listed Shen as “wanted” amid an investigation into alleged “secession-related” criminal activities in Taiwan, she said.
The actions of Strait Plus contravened the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says that “no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks,” the ministry said, quoting Article 12 of the UN document.
The organization’s post was an “invasion of personal privacy that crossed the line of civility,” the ministry said, adding that the behavior was “beneath contempt.”
“China’s transnational repression, harassment and interventions targeting Taiwan and other countries have seriously contravened the principles of international law and international human rights norms, explicitly displaying how the Beijing authority ignores the fundamental values of human rights and privacy of a civilized society,” it said, adding that the Republic of China (ROC) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are not subordinate to each other, and that China has no jurisdiction over ROC nationals.
The ministry would enhance emergency response and rescue mechanisms at its overseas missions to ensure the safety of Taiwanese, it said, adding that it has called on other countries to jointly condemn China’s human rights infringement, and to urge it stop its abusive long-arm jurisdiction and transnational repression.
The Mainland Affairs Council echoed the ministry’s response.
Facing the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) increasing threats against and coercion of Taiwanese, the council would conduct a comprehensive review of cross-strait exchanges, it said.
The CCP’s approval of illegal “digital violence” reveals its ignorance of the rule of law and human rights, the council said, calling on the Chinese government to restrain its affiliated media, remove the content that has infringed on human rights, apologize to Shen, and stop challenging Taiwan’s laws and ethics.
National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) wrote on X that “the CCP is a sick, disgusting regime,” and added that the posts referencing the information about Shen were “an act of transnational repression that goes beyond what any society should tolerate.”
Wu urged Meta Platforms Inc, which owns Facebook, to remove the content.
The Ministry of Digital Affairs said that the incident was a case of cyberbullying, which includes doxxing and digital coercion.
It called on the public to resist entities that engage in such behavior and avoid spreading hate speech online.
Marking the location of a private residence on commercial satellite imagery and making the image public is a serious violation of personal privacy and is against the law, it said.
The digital ministry said that it has contacted Meta and asked that it remove the content that involves threats to personal safety.
The National Police Agency said that it instructed the police division investigating the case to improve comprehensive security for Shen.
Extra police might be deployed based on situational risks to ensure the safety of Shen and his home, it said.
The public must avoid becoming local collaborators of a hostile nation, the police agency said, adding that people who act on instructions, engage in enticement or coercion, or illegally collect or transfer information that threatens the safety of Shen, his residence or social order, would be strictly investigated by the police and be prosecuted in accordance with the law.
Shen wrote on Facebook that China launched the “precision attack” against him, because its military exercises in the past week were ineffective in intimidating Taiwanese.
The stock market rose and Taiwan continues to debunk rumors about issues with national defense, infuriating Beijing, he said, adding that China is attempting to create fear among Taiwanese as if they have “informants everywhere.”
However, that form of psychological warfare is ineffective in Taiwan, he said.
Additional reporting by Chung Li-hua and Su Yong-yao
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