Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) yesterday pledged to propose an “anti-united front act” based on US legislation to counteract “severe undermining of Taiwanese democratic values” by Chinese “united front” tactics.
Beijing’s tactics include actions such as purchasing Taiwanese produce, promoting travel to counties and cities governed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and hosting Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) visit to China last month, Lee said.
The world has recognized the threat of Chinese infiltration, he said, calling on the nation to face the issue.
Screen grab from the Internet
Other nations have enacted legislation to prevent infiltration via finance and media, Lee said.
“As the main target of Chinese infiltration and aggression, it is necessary to establish legislation to counter China’s ‘Anti-Secession’ Law,” Lee said.
Lee said his proposed act would focus on newer “united front” tactics that utilize media and commerce, while allowing extant laws to continue to govern their respective jurisdictions.
Lee said he is still drafting the bill and would reference US legislation, adding that the main difficulty would be defining what constitutes “united front” tactics, while observing the freedoms of speech and movement.
For politicians, short of declaring support for the “one country, two systems” concept, the freedom of speech should be respected, Lee said.
The lawmaker said he envisages creating a cross-agency task force to enforce the law, as the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the National Communications Commission have their own areas of governance.
The National Security Bureau would be best suited for the duty, but it could not answer directly to the Legislative Yuan due to the nature of its responsibilities, Lee added.
In related news, China’s Fujian Province has completed preliminary studies on how to provide power to Kinmen and Lienchang counties, as well as water to Matsu, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said.
Efforts to provide Kinmen and Lienchang counties with natural gas and the construction of bridges linking the islands to China’s Fujian are being mulled, it added.
Kinmen County Commissioner Liu Tseng-ying (劉增應) on March 20 said that he hoped the 2km bridge between the Huangqi Peninsula and Donggu Atoll (東古礁) would be prioritized.
The MAC has said that the bridge must be assessed and approved by the central government.
China’s policy of the “new four links” — water, electricity, natural gas and bridges — is geared to bring the residents of Kinmen and Matsu over to its side while pressuring the DPP administration, National Sun Yat-sen University professor Lin Wen-cheng (林文程) said.
From Beijing’s perspective, due to the counties’ locations and unique statuses, it could be easier for “united front” tactics to work there than in other counties and cities in Taiwan, Lin said.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS