customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

knowledgeQuestion

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Laura Zhou

A Taiwanese political activist has been sentenced to nine years in prison in mainland China on charges of “separatism”, a cross-strait first prompting an official travel warning from Taipei.
Yang Chih-yuan, 34, was formally arrested in April last year, eight months after being detained in the eastern mainland city of Wenzhou.
According to the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), the mainland body overseeing cross-strait matters, Yang was found guilty of “long-term involvement in acts of secession, actively advocating the idea of ‘Taiwan independence’ and playing a key role in ‘Taiwan independence’ organisations such as the ‘Taiwan National Party’.”
He was also accused of attempting to promote “Taiwan’s statehood” and push for Taiwan’s membership in the United Nations, mainland state news agency Xinhua reported, citing TAO spokesman Chen Binhua.
The ruling by the Intermediate People’s Court in Wenzhou, in the coastal province of Zhejiang, was handed down on August 26, but the details were not announced until Friday.
Yang had been taken into custody by national security agents in Wenzhou in August 2022, as then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi concluded a visit to Taiwan and Beijing announced it would crack down on “Taiwanese separatists”. The purpose of his visit to the mainland has not been officially confirmed.
Beijing, which sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary, was infuriated by Pelosi’s visit, saying it showed support for separatist forces, and launched unprecedented live-fire military exercises around the island as well as economic sanctions on some Taiwanese industries, businesses and individuals.
Like most countries, the United States does not recognise Taiwan as independent but opposes any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.
At the time of his detention, Yang was accused of being a long-time advocate of “Taiwan independence”, a red line for Beijing, and having founded a “Taiwan National Party”, which is illegal according to mainland Chinese law.
He is the first person from Taiwan to be found guilty of separatism by a mainland court. The sentencing comes at a time when relations across the Taiwan Strait have deteriorated significantly, especially since William Lai Ching-te took over as Taiwanese leader in May.
Lai, who represents Taiwan’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), has been branded as a “troublemaker” by Beijing. He marked his first 100 days in office on August 27, a day after Yang received his sentence.


The court decision was first revealed by Liang Wen-chieh, a deputy minister with Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, the island’s top cross-strait policy planner.
The government in Taipei and Yang’s family rejected the ruling, Liang said.
“The government expresses its strong condemnation and demands that the verdict and the evidence on which it was based be made public,” he told reporters in Taipei on Thursday.
Liang also accused Beijing of using the case “to intimidate the people of Taiwan”, adding that travellers from the island of 23 million should be cautious when considering travelling across the strait.
Chen at the TAO rejected those claims, saying that the Lai government had tried to “steal concepts and confuse right and wrong … to intimidate and prevent Taiwan compatriots from taking part in normal cross-strait exchanges and cooperation, and to instigate confrontation and antagonism”.
According to Chinese criminal law, a leader or key figure in an organisation that “plots or acts to split the country or undermine national unification” could be jailed for 10 years to life.
Those who commit “particularly serious harms” may be sentenced to death, and those who actively participate could be jailed for up to 10 years.
Beijing released its first Anti-Secession Law in 2005. It has in recent years steadily stepped up its crackdown on “Taiwan separatists” after cross-strait ties soured since Tsai Ing-wen, Lai’s predecessor and also of the DPP, took office in 2016 and ramped up exchanges with Washington.
In one of its latest such moves, Beijing released a judicial guideline in June that said “Taiwan independence” separatists could face the death penalty in extreme secession cases deemed to have “severely endangered the state and the people”.


Sight of China’s Type 094 in Taiwan Strait suggest evolved nuclear sub programme: analyst

Malaysia to wait for Hong Kong’s policy direction on Islamic finance before helping: envoy

How the Cold War and a largely imagined China made spy novels cool

PLA slams Germany for sailing ships through Taiwan Strait, citing ‘security risks’

Taiwan

Mainland China jail term for Taiwanese ‘separatist’ prompts travel warning from Taipei

Yang Chih-yuan is taken away by national security agents in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, in August 2022. Photo: CCTV

100 days into the job, Taiwan’s new leader is cutting mainland ties by reframing history

Unlike his predecessor, the more assertive William Lai has taken a clear and decisive stance on mainland ties. Photo: AFP

Chip war: Taiwan accuses 8 mainland Chinese firms of poaching talent, stealing secrets

Naura is one of eight mainland Chinese companies accused by Taiwanese authorities of poaching talent from the island. Photo: Bloomberg

Beijing is engaging in a semiconductor self-reliance drive. Photo: Reuters

Taiwan starts work on coastal anti-ship missile bases for US-made Harpoon weapons

Photo: AFP 

Taiwan is expected to get 100 land-based Harpoon anti-ship missile systems under a 2020 deal with the United States. Photo: AFP

Taiwan bans mainland rapper for describing island as part of China

Mainland Chinese rapper Wang Yitai was refused permission to enter Taiwan. Photo: AP

The singer posed promotional materials referring to Taipei, China on a mainland social media platform. Photo: Xiaohongshu

Taiwanese security forces accused of trailing mainland Chinese religious group

The delegates had been visiting temples dedicated to the late Ming general Koxinga. Photo: Nora Tam

News

China

Politics

Yang Chih-yuan, 34, will serve nine years for ‘actively advocating the idea of Taiwan independence’, a red line for Beijing


Yang Chih-yuan, 34, will serve nine years for ‘actively advocating the idea of Taiwan independence’, a red line for Beijing.
