On Friday last week, China released “judicial guidelines on imposing criminal punishments” — including jail terms ranging from three years to life imprisonment and even the death penalty — for “die-hard” supporters of Taiwanese independence.
However, this bullying tactic would only lead to further cross-strait separation that departs from the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) goal of unifying with Taiwan.
The announcement by the Chinese Ministry of Justice and judicial courts lists 22 guidelines for its courts and security bodies to “severely punish Taiwanese independence die-hards for splitting the country and inciting secession, and resolutely defend national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.”
The guidelines also outline what China considers crimes worthy of punishment, including promoting Taiwan’s de jure independence, advocating the nation’s entry into international organizations, engaging in official exchanges and military contacts abroad, and conspiring to create “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan,” in the international community.
It also targets attempts to “change Taiwan’s legal status as a part of China,” or “distort or falsify the fact that Taiwan is part of China in the fields of education, culture, history, [and] news media.” More perversely, trials can be held in absentia.
Since China has no jurisdiction over Taiwan, those new guidelines could be used to threat Taiwanese traveling to China. And they are more an act of legal warfare to weaponize its domestic laws to intimidate new president William Lai (賴清德) and pro-Taiwan activists, such as the dozens of politicians and media commentators named on its sanctions list.
Many pro-China people, such as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians and its members who repeatedly laud the Constitution of the Republic of China (ROC) that insists that “mainland China is part of ROC territory,” could also be punished for insulting the PRC’s sovereignty.
KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲), who officially asked the minister of national defense to “reclaim mainland China” as part of ROC territory, could be convicted of subversion of the PRC’s power.
Millions of Taiwanese could also be punished for voting in presidential and legislative elections, a process which marks Taiwan as an independent, sovereign entity that is separate from China.
With a growing number of countries’ officials and lawmakers challenging Beijing’s “one China” principle by deepening multilevel ties with Taiwan, and more international voices rejecting China’s mischaracterization of UN Resolution 2758 as saying Taiwan is part of China, the guidelines are intended as legal warfare to push back against support for Taiwan’s independent sovereign status.
They also aim to burnish Beijing’s disinformation that Taiwan is a subordinate part of China, setting the stage for turning Taiwan into another Hong Kong or deploying its secret police worldwide to harass Taiwanese and international like-minded friends.
Beijing might also use them as part of its legal basis for justifying military action against Taiwan.
China’s move has demonstrated its escalating hostility and bullying approach to Taiwan, which would surely lead to further separation and provoke more confrontation across the strait.
In response to the guidelines, Lai said “democracy is not a crime; it’s autocracy that is the real evil.” All Taiwanese and the international community should cooperate to confront and fight such evil hegemonism.
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