Beijing’s measures to encourage people to report so-called “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists” and other national security problems would affect Taiwanese business personnel and entertainers working in China the most, a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official said yesterday.
The measure could also be used by people to destroy their business rivals and others they have a personal vendetta with, they said.
The Hong Kong Police Force last month said that as of June, it had received more than 750,000 reports of national security problems since it launched a hotline on Nov. 5, 2020, the council wrote on Facebook on Saturday last week.
Photo: Screen grab from the Mainland Affairs Council’s Facebook page
As of March 8, more than 700,000 reports were received via the hotline, the council said
This showed that the number of national security reports increased by 50,000 within just four months, it added.
Of the 750,000 national security-related reports, about 10 to 20 percent were effective investigative leads that the Hong Kong police could follow, the council said, adding that it is only a matter of time for them to pursue and arrest individuals and crack down on organizations involved in these cases.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan Affairs Office has recently added a new “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists” section on its Web site and set up an electronic mailbox for people to report such people, the council said.
“Reporting on Taiwanese independence separatists could become popular in China,” it said.
The measure would create more obstacles to the positive development of cross-strait relations and hinder normal interactions between people in Taiwan and in China. It also would not help facilitate goodwill exchanges across the Taiwan Strait, the council said.
“We think that China should do more work that contributes to positive interactions with Taiwan,” it said.
A council official told the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) that some people might use it to falsely accuse their business competitors and others they have grudges against.
Such a policy would hurt Taiwanese business personnel and entertainers the most, the official said.
So far, no Taiwanese have been pursued or arrested by Chinese police in third countries since Beijing published the 22 new guidelines on June 21, which would allow its courts to try in absentia and potentially impose a death penalty for “diehard Taiwanese independence separatists,” the official said.
“Our assessment is that Beijing would not make any moves before the end of this year. Whether it would take further action afterward remains to be seen,” the official said.
“We would ask people to avoid going to China, Hong Kong and Macao for their own personal safety,” the official added.
Additional reporting by Chen Yu-fu
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and