Several Taiwanese businesspeople have said they plan to leave China following Beijing’s implementation of new laws to punish anyone associated with activities related to Taiwanese independence, a source said on Sunday.
China on June 21 announced 22 guidelines imposing criminal punishments on die-hard “Taiwanese independence” separatists, including the death penalty. Such crimes include promoting “two Chinas,” “one China, one Taiwan” or “Taiwanese independence.”
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) has also published an e-mail address that people can write to with leads on people suspected of violating the guidelines.
Photo: Reuters
“Some Taiwanese in China have contacted the Mainland Affairs Council and expressed concerns about their safety following the introduction of the guidelines,” the source said.
“Due to industry competition, Taiwanese working in China could be maliciously reported by someone who simply dislikes them, or who has had business disputes with them,” the person said.
If someone is reported to the TAO, they would be visited by officials, and if they are arrested, their case would be handled by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of State Security, the source said.
“The TAO has repeatedly said that it only targets die-hard Taiwanese independence activists, and that it hopes Taiwanese businesspeople would stay on the mainland,” the source said. “Nevertheless, the guidelines have accelerated a trend of withdrawal from China.”
The TAO is not investigating Taiwanese who are members of the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland, which is a Chinese government agency, the source said.
Taiwanese businessman Morrison Lee (李孟居), who was arrested in China in 2019 and held for four years after expressing his support for protesters in Hong Kong, on Saturday said that the TAO was trying to scare Taiwanese to deter them from potentially supporting Taiwanese independence.
“It does not matter whether you really support Taiwanese independence. Taiwanese might even falsely report other Taiwanese — it has happened before,” he said.
Lee said that while imprisoned in China he encountered Chinese who had also been framed over business disputes, including some who had been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
“They can charge you with any crime. China is not a normal country, and the environment there is no longer suitable for doing business,” he said.
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