China’s rhetoric turns dangerously real for Taiwanese

Calls to reject “die hard” Chinese secessionists, a tipline to record them and punishments that could include the death sentence for “ringleaders” – Beijing’s common rhetoric against Taiwan is turning extremely true.

The democratically-governed area has grown used to China’s says. Perhaps the boats and planes that defend its defenses have become a regular occurrence. However, the current moves to criminalize help for it irritate Taiwanese who reside and work in China and those who reside there.

A Chinese businesswoman from China stated,” I am now planning to accelerate my departure.” This was immediately after the Supreme Court approved changes that would allow for the death penalty for those who had fought for Taiwan’s independence.

” I do n’t think that is making a mountain out of a molehill. The collection is now very unclear”, says Prof Yu Jie, a constitutional scholar at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica.

The 23 million Taiwanese were quickly informed by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office that this is not intended for them, but rather an “extremely small number of hard-line freedom protesters.” The office claimed that the “vast majority of Japanese compatriots have nothing to anxiety.”

However, Taiwanese who are wary claim that they do n’t want to put that theory to the test. Numerous Taiwanese who reside and work in China have spoken to the BBC and said they are either considering leaving quickly or have already left. Some people wanted to get interviewed on-camera, and nobody wanted to get identified.

” Any statement you make right now could be misinterpreted and you could be refuted.” China now encouraged people to report on people, even prior to this new legislation, according to the woman.

Last week, a site that identified Japanese public figures who were deemed “die hard” separatists was made established by Chinese authorities. The website had a list of email addresses where users could mail” facts and crimes” about people they knew or suspect of being named.

According to scholars, Beijing hopes to imitate Hong Kong’s national protection laws, which it argued were required for stability, but they have stoked the pro-democracy movement because original lawmakers, activists, and regular citizens who despise the government have been imprisoned as a result.

Beijing hopes to” slice off the group’s relations with the outside world and to distribute Taiwan’s community between those who support Taiwan’s independence and those who do not,” according to Prof. Chen, a constitutional scholar at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica.

She claims that some Taiwanese who reside in China will almost certainly be prosecuted as a result of the Supreme Court’s guidance.

” This opinion has been communicated to all levels of law enforcement throughout the country. So, this is a way to say to them:” We want to see more cases like this being prosecuted, so go and find one.”

” We must be even more cautious”, said a Taiwanese man based in Macao. He claimed that he had always been prepared for threats, but that the new legal guidance had caused his friends to “express concern” about their future in the Chinese city.

” Patriotic education has become more prevalent in Macau in recent years, with more assertive statements on Taiwan causing a more tense environment than before thepandemic period,” he continued.

Taiwan, which has powerful allies in the US, the EU and Japan, rejects Beijing’s plans for “reunification” – but fears have been growing that China’s Xi Jinping has sped up the timeline to take the island, an avowed goal of the Chinese Communist Party.

For more than 30 years Taiwanese companies- iPhone-maker Foxconn, advanced chips giant TSMC and electronics behemoth Acer – have played a key role in China’s growth. Additionally, the prosperity brought Taiwanese from across the strait who were looking for better jobs and employment opportunities.

When I first moved to Shanghai, I was in awe of it. It felt so much bigger, more exciting, more cosmopolitan than Taipei”, says Zoe Chu*. She managed foreign musicians who were in high demand from clubs and venues in cities across China for more than a decade in Shanghai.

This was the mid-2000s when China was booming, drawing money and people from across the globe. Shanghai was at the center of it; it was bigger, shinier, and more fashionable than any other Chinese city.

My friends in Shanghai were hostile toward Beijing. They called it the big northern village”, Ms Chu recalls. Shanghai was the ideal location. It had the best restaurants, the best nightclubs, the coolest people. I felt like such a country bumpkin, but I learned fast”.

By the end of that decade – in 2009- more than 400, 000 Taiwanese lived in China. By 2022, that number had plummeted to 177, 000, according to official figures from Taiwan.

” China had changed”, says Ms Chu, who left Shanghai in 2019. She has no intention of returning to work for a medical company in Taipei.

” I am Taiwanese”, she explains. ” It’s no longer safe for us there”.

The Taiwanese exodus has been driven by the same things that have pushed huge numbers of foreigners to leave China – a sluggish economy, growing hostility between Beijing and Washington and, most of all, the sudden and sweeping lockdowns during the Covid pandemic.

Taiwanese in China have expressed concern because they are not seen as “foreigners,” which makes them particularly vulnerable to state oppression.

15 Taiwanese nationals are currently being detained in China, according to senior Taiwanese officials, for “violations of the anti-secession law” among others.

In 2019, China jailed a Taiwanese businessman for espionage after he was caught taking photos of police officers in Shenzen – a charge he denied. He was only released last year. In April 2023, China confirmed that it had arrested a Taiwan-based publisher for “endangering national security”. He still remains in custody.

Amy Hsu*, who previously lived and worked in China, claims that because of her job, she is now afraid to even go there. She returned to Taiwan and began volunteering at an NGO that assisted people who had fled Hong Kong in making their permanent residence there.

” It is definitely more dangerous for me now”, she says. ” In 2018, they started using surveillance cameras to fine people for jaywalking, and the system could pick up your face and send the fine right to your home.”

She claims the level of surveillance disturbed her and that it can be used to pursue even visitors, especially those who are on a list of potential offenders.

” Oh I am definitely on the list. I am a hardline pro-independence]guy ] with lots of ideas”, chuckles Robert Tsao, a 77-year-old tech billionaire, who founded one of Taiwan’s largest chip-makers, United Micro-electronics Corporation ( UMC).

Mr Tsao was born in Beijing, but today he supports Taiwan independence and avoids not just China, but also Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand and even Singapore.

Mr. Tsao had a history of hostile relations with China. One of the first investors from Taiwan to establish cutting-edge chip factories in China. However, he claims that the Hong Kong crackdown caused him to change his perspective:” It was so liberating and vibrant and now it’s gone.” And they want to treat us similarly here.

He claims that” this new ruling is actually helping people like me.” He thinks it will backfire, boosting Taiwan’s people’s resolve to stand up for China.

” We have all become criminals because they claim the new law will only affect a select few hard-line independence supporters like me, but so many Taiwanese people either support independence or the status quo, which is the same thing, so we have all become criminals.”

* Names changed on request of contributors