China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday.
“China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail.
The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said.
Photo copied by Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats and legal pressure only exacerbate tensions and undermine cross-strait peace and stability,” the spokesperson said.
“The United States will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s provocative and irresponsible actions,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson’s remarks came after China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Wednesday last week announced that it had launched a new section on its official Web site for reporting independence advocates.
The new section allows people to report “vile acts by those advocating ‘Taiwanese independence’ and their accomplices in persecuting Taiwanese compatriots,” Xinhua news agency reported.
Certain organizations, government officials and online influencers have acted as enforcers of “Taiwanese independence” and their accomplices, “abetting wrongdoing and facilitating aggression,” Xinhua quoted TAO spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) as saying.
Later on Wednesday, the TAO issued a news release saying that as of 5pm, it had received 323 e-mails reporting people for “vile acts,” such as “threatening to disband patriotic pro-unification groups and openly infringing on the legitimate rights of Chinese spouses in Taiwan.”
The people reported included Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳), several Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers, YouTubers Pa Chiung (八炯) and Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), and United Microelectronics Corp founder Robert Tsao (曹興誠), the financial backer of nonprofit civil defense organization Kuma Academy.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday criticized the new reporting system, calling the move “a full-scale interference in Taiwan’s internal affairs.”
“It also proves that Taiwan must remain vigilant,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said.
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