The entry into the nation by pro-unification Chinese academic Li Yi (李毅) to attend a forum hosted by the Chinese Unity Promotion Party was illegal, the Mainland Affairs Council and the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday, revoking his visa and ordering his deportation.
As of press time last night, the NIA’s Taichung office was working to ascertain Li’s whereabouts.
Li was invited to speak on “maintaining the prospects of peaceful unification” at the forum, which is to follow a demonstration scheduled for tomorrow in Taichung, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said.
Photo: Copy by Chang Jui-chen, Taipei Times
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) had instructed both agencies to look into the matter, citing national security concerns, she said.
The NIA and the council decided to revoke Li’s visa, citing a breach of Article 16 of the Regulations Governing the Approval of People of the Mainland Area Visiting Taiwan for Purposes of Tourism (大陸地區人民來台從事觀光活動許可辦法), Kolas said.
Li applied to enter the nation for sightseeing as a US resident, the agencies said, adding that he posed a “potential threat to national security.”
Photo: Li Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
Regarding tomorrow’s planned demonstration, Kolas said that as the Taichung City Government had already approved it, it would fall under the city’s jurisdiction.
Author Joyce Yen (顏擇雅) said in a statement on Facebook that the party calling Li a “visiting sociology academic from the US” was an attempt at obfuscation.
While Li obtained his doctoral degree in the US, he does not hold a teaching position at any US university, Yen said.
Li is most often cited by the media as a researcher at Beijing’s Renmin University of China, she said.
Contrary to the stated topic for his talk at the forum, Li is a known supporter of unification through armed invasion, she added.
Yen called for a review of the nation’s legal system to determine how Li was allowed to “spread his views” in Taiwan, especially after he in 2016 said that China should send 25 million “new immigrants” to Taiwan to solve the “Taiwanese independence problem.”
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
RSS