TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan on Wednesday condemned China for listing Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) and Education Minister Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) as "diehard ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists."
Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office Spokesperson Chen Binhua said, “We will take all necessary measures to punish them in accordance with the law and hold them accountable for life,” per Xinhua. Chen said that Liu and Cheng, as well as their relatives, will be barred from entering China, Hong Kong, and Macau, per China Daily.
Their affiliated organizations are banned from working in China. Chen added that Chen Shu-i (陳舒怡), a prosecutor from the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office, has been designated as "an accomplice to ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities."
Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council responded that Liu, Cheng, and Chen have defended sovereignty and national security, per CNA. MAC condemned China's claims.
MAC said those labeled by China as separatists are public officials who, in the course of their duties, have defended Taiwan, safeguarded national security, and countered pressure, infiltration, and espionage from Beijing. It said China's real aim is not the individuals on the list, but to intimidate Taiwan.
It added that Beijing has cultivated local collaborators to sow internal divisions in Taiwan in hopes of unification. China is also attempting to assert to the international community that it has jurisdiction over Taiwan by treating individual cases as “domestic criminal matters."
MAC said all of these actions are ineffective. It emphasized that threats and intimidation cannot shake the Taiwanese people’s determination to uphold democracy and freedom.
The council said the government will defend national sovereignty and the well-being of the people. It said China must bear full responsibility for any consequences arising from its provocations that undermine cross-strait stability.
