China announces sanctions on “Taiwanese separatist fanatics”

The Taiwan Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party announced on Tuesday sanctions against those it described as “Taiwanese separatist fanatics,” the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Among those sanctioned are the vice president of the Legislative Assembly of Taiwan, Tsai Chi Chang, activists like Lin Fei-fan and other members of the Democratic Progressive Party (governing party on the island) such as Bi-khim Hsiao, Wang Ting-yu or Koo Li-hsiung.

These people thus join a list that already included, among others, the current island minister of Foreign AffairsJoseph Wu.

sanctions

Those sanctioned and their close relatives will have forbidden to enter mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao, and their companies and organizations may not carry out activities in mainland China for profit.

According to a spokesman for the Office quoted by Xinhua, those on the list will have to “be accountable to the law for life.”

The Bureau said that “some fanatic Taiwanese separatists have gone to great lengths to collude with foreign forces to advocate for Taiwan’s independence,” behavior that became “more egregious” during US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to the island earlier this month.

military maneuvers

China responded to the trip with military exercises around the island and with trade sanctions to some Taiwanese products, as well as to Pelosi herself and her close relatives.

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Shortly after the US politician’s visit, Chinese authorities arrested a Taiwanese citizen residing in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou for his alleged involvement in “separatist activities.”

China insists on “reunifying” the People’s Republic with the island, which has been governed autonomously since the Kuomintang (KMT) nationalists withdrew there in 1949 after losing the civil war against the communists and continued with the regime of the Republic of China, culminating in the transition to democracy in the 1990s.