TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday criticized China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) website for listing “Taiwan independence die-hards."
On Tuesday (Aug. 6), a new page appeared on the Chinese government website that read, “Punish ‘Taiwan independence’ die-hards under the law" and listed current and former top government officials.
At a press conference on Thursday (Aug. 8), MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said, “This thing could lead to certain consequences. Essentially, setting up a reporting mailbox encourages everyone to report, which could create a wave of encouragement,” per UDN.
Liang added, “We have seen some examples in the past, such as industry competition, personal grudges, and even disagreements over opinions.” Liang pointed out that comedian Huang An (黃安) had accused rival entertainers Tzuyu (周子瑜) and Crowd Lu (盧廣仲) of supporting Taiwan independence, resulting in a backlash in China.
Liang warned that if a trend of encouraging such reports takes hold, “it could lead to many people being inexplicably caught up in it." He said this is something China “must recognize clearly.”
The MAC official said the CCP's measures, “aside from creating more obstacles and harm in cross-strait interactions and hindering exchanges between people on both sides, do not benefit the promotion of positive cross-strait exchanges.” He said the correct approach for China would be to facilitate positive interactions between both sides.
