Taiwanese National Party (TNP) vice chairman Yang Zhi-yuan (楊智淵) is innocent, and Beijing should release him and allow him to return to Taiwan immediately, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday.
Yang has been detained by China since Aug. 3 last year for alleged involvement in “Taiwan separatist activities.”
The council issued the statement after the Chinese Supreme People’s Procuratorate yesterday announced that the Wenzhou People’s Procuratorate would soon indict Yang on secession charges after an investigation of him was concluded.
Photo courtesy of 908 Taiwan Republic Campaign head Chou Chung-teh
China has accused Yang of being a long-time advocate of Taiwanese independence and establishing the Taiwanese National Party to promote the cause.
“His party is also advocating that a referendum on Taiwanese independence be held to make Taiwan an independent and sovereign nation at the UN,” the council said.
“Since August last year, we have conveyed to Beijing multiple times through our channels of communication that Yang should be released immediately and safely, but it has yet to give any positive response on this matter,” it said.
“We have been aware since August that Yang was at one point asked to limit his activities to his residence and was subsequently arrested and detained. We have also kept close contact with Yang’s family and offered them all necessary assistance,” the council said.
Taiwan and China are seeking to resume normal cross-strait exchanges as the COVID-19 pandemic is easing, but Beijing’s “arbitrary arrests of Taiwanese has created fear and hurt the rights and interests of our people,” the council said.
Such a move is bound to be detrimental to exchanges and interactions between Taiwanese and Chinese, it said.
People should carefully assess relevant risks before traveling to China, as it is common for the Chinese government to disregard the rights of individuals, the council said.
Cross-Strait Policy Association researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) told the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) in an interview that arrests of Taiwanese in China are designed to create fear in Taiwan and intimidate Taiwanese ahead of the presidential and legislative elections next year.
“The point is not what Yang has done, because whether someone advocates Taiwanese independence or not is unilaterally determined by Beijing,” Wu said.
As cross-strait relations are at a low point, traveling to China carries significant political risk for Taiwanese, he said.
“Anything you said online or on certain occasions, whether it was about identifying with the Republic of China or advocating that Taiwan conducts its affairs as a normal country, could be perceived as promoting Taiwanese independence. These comments could get you arrested and result in you facing secession and sedition charges,” Wu said.
“Based on past experiences, the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] would first spend a long time building a case from what Taiwanese defendants have said online or at public occasions. The legal process would be long and opaque... Even though Taiwan and China have a legal assistance treaty, things would be difficult to handle once it becomes a national security issue,” he said.
In addition to Yang, two EBC News reporters are reportedly in custody in China after filming Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises earlier this month.
Gusa Press editor-in-chief Li Yanhe (李延賀), also known as Fucha (富察), was also reportedly arrested by Chinese police in Shanghai while visiting family last month.
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