China has “destroyed” a large network of Taiwanese spies in the mainland and uncovered more than 1,000 espionage cases undertaken by Taiwan, China's security ministry said as it vowed to fight “separatism.”
“The cases involved espionage activities and leaking state secrets,” said the Ministry of State Security, China’s counterintelligence agency, in a post on its official WeChat account.
The ministry cited the case of Taiwanese citizen Yang Zhiyuan, who was arrested in 2022.
“His arrest dealt a serious blow to pro-independence separatist forces and had a strong deterrent effect,” the ministry said in its post on Tuesday, calling Yang a “Taiwan independence” leader.
Yang was detained in August 2022 in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, on suspicion of engaging in “separatist activities” and endangering China’s national security.
He was reportedly handed over to prosecutors in April the following year and is now facing trial in a Chinese court.
“We will resolutely fight against Taiwanese separatism and espionage,” the ministry said, adding that it would destroy any attempt to seek Taiwanese independence.
Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which is responsible for cross-strait affairs, said in response to a query from RFA Mandarin that the announcement by the Chinese security department illustrated its use of “vague and unclear laws” to detain people from Taiwan who do not conform with the political ideology of China’s ruling Communist Party.
The arrests also hindered a healthy interaction between the two sides, the council said, while reiterating its advice to Taiwan people to carefully consider the necessity of traveling to the mainland.
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Arrests of Tainwanese
The Chinese ministry also lashed out at Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party authorities, warning that “those who are willing to work with them will be shattered under the wheels of history.”
China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that should be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary. The democratic island has been self-governing since it effectively separated from mainland China in 1949 after the Chinese civil war.
China has dialed up diplomatic and economic pressure on the island since former president Tsai Ing-wen’s administration came to power in 2016.Tsai and her party refuse to acknowledge that Taiwan and the mainland belong to “One China.”
President Lai Ching-te, who is also a DPP member who came to power after a January election, is also viewed with suspicion by China’s Communist Party.
There have been several other cases in recent years of people from Taiwan who have been imprisoned in mainland China on espionage charges.
Researcher Cheng Yu-chin was jailed for seven years in prison in 2022 on espionage-related charges. He was a former aide to Taiwan’s former president Tsai.
Taiwanese activist Lee Ming-che was sentenced to five years in a mainland Chinese prison for subversion of the state before being released in 2022, while Taiwanese businessman Lee Meng-chu was jailed on espionage charges after being arrested in Shenzhen in 2019 for taking photos of armed police officers.
In June, China issued guidelines on criminal punishment for “diehard Taiwanese separatists,” who attempt or incite secession, with penalties up to death.
Chinese authorities also recently released a list of 10 "diehard Taiwanese separatists," including Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim and former DPP chairman Su Tseng-chang.
Edited by Mike Firn.