China is using “legal warfare” to intimidate Taiwanese by announcing punishments including the death penalty in extreme cases of what it called “diehard Taiwanese independence separatists,” a political figure familiar with cross-strait relations said yesterday.
China’s state-run Xinhua news agency on Friday said Beijing has adopted a new set of guidelines that stipulates that China’s courts, prosecutors, and public and state security bodies should “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession crimes in accordance with the law, and resolutely defend national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.”
The notice Beijing released on Friday specified the death penalty for “ringleaders” of Taiwanese independence efforts who “cause particularly serious harm to the [Chinese] state and the people,” it said.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The guidelines also detailed what is considered crimes worthy of punishment, including promoting Taiwan’s de jure independence, advocating the nation’s entry into international organizations whose memberships are limited to sovereign states, engaging in official exchanges and military contacts abroad, and conspiring to create “two Chinas,” or “one China, one Taiwan,” in the international community.
They also include taking advantage of one’s authority in education, culture, history and the media to “distort or falsify facts about Taiwan’s historical links to China,” and “suppressing” parties, groups or individuals that promote peaceful cross-strait relations and “reunification” with China, as well as “other acts that seek to separate Taiwan from China.”
The person, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the guidelines listed a wide range of crimes vaguely, so even supporting the Republic of China (ROC) and advocating that two sides of the Taiwan Strait are not subordinate to each other are viewed as separatist acts.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using legal warfare to intimidate Taiwanese and achieve a chilling effect, they said.
The guidelines do not differentiate Taiwanese or foreign nationals, seeing them as criminals advocating Taiwanese independence who should be punished, they said.
Noting that US President Joe Biden has said he does not rule out using military force to defend Taiwan if China unilaterally tries to change the “status quo” across the Strait, they asked: “Does the CCP dare punish him?”
Some foreign nationals have pointed out Beijing’s systematic misuse and distortion of UN Resolution 2758, so they might also be viewed as criminals and punished, the source said, adding that it might spur more countries to sanction China.
The guidelines resemble the “Taiwanese version of Hong Kong’s National Security Law,” which contains ambiguous legal concepts.
The guidelines include the concepts of trial in absentia, long-arm jurisdiction and collective punishments, which is a crime against humanity, they said.
Taiwanese should avoid traveling to China, Hong Kong or Macau to avoid being detained and punished, they said.
National Cheng Kung University Department of Law professor Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) said the guidelines’ references to “conspiring to change the legal status of Taiwan being a part of China,” and “conspiring to create ‘two Chinas,’ ‘one China, one Taiwan,’ or ‘Taiwanese independence’ in the international community” are vague.
The CCP can subjectively determine or abuse the concept of “conspiring,” which is against the principle of nulla poena sine lege, which means “no punishment without law,” he said.
Someone can only be punished for doing something if a penalty for this behavior is fixed in criminal law, he said.
Taiwan has long abolished Article 100 of the Criminal Code and no longer punishes thought crimes, but the CCP wants to severely penalize people in education, history, and media for damaging the claims of “Taiwan being a part of China,” Hsu said.
The Taiwan Prefecture Gazetteer (臺灣府志) from the Qing Dynasty had clearly stated that Taiwan does not belong to China, so even citing it might be considered a crime, he said.
The guidelines are seriously affecting freedom of speech of Taiwanese, as even the act of opposing the pro-unification political parties is considered a crime, he added.
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