Mon, Aug 14, 2023 page2

• Beijing uses embassies for ‘one China’ propaganda

  ‘WOLF WARRIOR’: China might target Taiwanese based in countries where Taiwan does not have an office with its ‘united front’ tactics, an academic said

  • By Chen Yu-fu / Staff reporter
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  China is using its consular protection and assistance act for “one China” propaganda targeting Taiwanese people based overseas, a Taiwanese official said yesterday.

  The act was announced by the Chinese State Council last month and is to take effect at the beginning of next month.

  Overseas Chinese citizens, legal persons and unincorporated organizations can seek help from Chinese diplomatic agencies abroad when their legitimate rights and interests are violated or they need help, the act says.

  

  Signage outside the Chinese Consulate General in Manchester, England, is pictured on Oct. 17 last year.

  Photo: Reuters

  It also stipulates diplomatic agencies’ obligations, including abiding by Chinese laws, respecting the religious beliefs and customs of the host country, and protecting their own safety.

  Taiwanese citizens are included in the definitions of Chinese citizens according to Chinese laws, said a group of overseas Taiwanese businesspeople in an article circulating on social media.

  When Taiwanese people are unable to find a Taiwanese office abroad, they can seek help from Chinese diplomatic agencies when in need, the article said.

  Chinese embassies have extended a helping hand to Taiwanese when evacuating their citizens from countries during social unrest, it said.

  China has moved its “united front” tactics to its laws, an official familiar with Chinese affairs said.

  The propaganda has been spread among groups of overseas Taiwanese businesspeople, and is expected to be broadcast to international Chinese communities, the Taiwanese official said.

  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Community Affairs Council should respond to the issue properly, they said.

  Beijing took advantage of the promulgation of the act to stress that Taiwan is part of China and exaggerate Taiwan’s diplomatic dilemma, the official said.

  By comparing the diplomatic capacities of China and Taiwan, Beijing is advertising that it is capable of helping Taiwanese in need as a “united front” tactic, the official said.

  China has been employing “wolf warrior diplomacy” and broadcasting domestic propaganda while facing sanctions from Western countries in recent years, National Cheng Kung University political science professor Hung Chin-fu (洪敬富) said.

  China also considers Taiwanese beneficiaries of its patriotic education law, along with consular protection and assistance act, seeing them as Chinese citizens, he said.

  While telling Taiwanese that they would be protected as long as they identify with their “mother country” China, it is also telling the world that any act against Chinese people would be punished, he said.

  Those who have “fantasies” about China might imagine that Chinese embassies would take care of them when they are in need, not knowing that these embassies often ignore calls of Chinese citizens, he said.

  China might take advantage of Taiwanese in countries where Taiwan does not have an office and target them with its “united front” tactics, he said.

  The ministry and other agencies should act in advance by cooperating with other democratic countries to help citizens abroad to prevent China from exploiting the situation, he said.
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