The government has violated civil liberties by revoking the residency permit of a China-born influencer for voicing support for Beijing to take over Taiwan by force, a group of academics said in a joint statement yesterday.
Academia Sinica member Chen Pei-jer (陳培哲), a medical scientist engaged in Taiwan’s vaccine research during the COVID-19 pandemic, was among the 75 academics who issued the statement.
The influencer, Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), better known by her social media handle “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣), left for China on Tuesday hours before the government could execute the deportation order.
Photo: CNA
President William Lai (賴清德) is “rapidly compressing the space for free speech,” the academics said.
Left Party Secretary-General Huang Te-pei (黃德北), who cosigned the statement, accused the government of limiting cross-strait exchanges and questioned Lai’s proposal to reinstate military tribunals.
The Lai administration has made constant appeals to populism — including demonizing China, branding domestic critics as communists and sowing division in society — to cement its voters’ support, the statement said.
Liu’s deportation by fiat was an abuse of executive power and contradicted the administration’s self-proclaimed support of human rights, it said.
Society’s silent acquiescence was key to the rise of Nazi Germany, it said, adding that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government should “halt at the brink of the abyss.”
In response, Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said Taiwan is a democracy and the administration supports the right to express different opinions.
That freedom does not protect speech inciting hatred or violence, which Liu had by advocating China to invade Taiwan, she said, citing the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Deputy Minister of Justice Hsu Hsi-hsiang (徐錫祥) said that under the Act Governing the Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), Chinese residents in Taiwan cannot engage in activities that compromise national security or social stability.
The Cabinet is considering amendments to the Criminal Code or introducing new legislation to deal with cases such as Liu’s, he told reporters from the sidelines of a legislative session.
Meanwhile, Chinese National Party (KMT) spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智?) voiced support for the academics, saying pro-DPP academics have joined Chen in protesting the deportation.
The party is concerned that the academics could be subject to cyberbullying or legal persecution, she said.
Separately, the Taipei High Administrative Court dismissed Liu’s lawsuit against the National Immigration Agency, saying that the case had no merit as the veracity of her comments was not in dispute.
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