Taiwan Secessionist Blacklist
After a Hong Kong newspaper reported on 17 November 2020 that the Chinese mainland will formulate a blacklist of "stubborn Taiwan secessionists," mainland experts said the blacklist should include the leaders, influential personnel of the secessionist forces, and the head of Taiwan's executive body. The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council on 18 November 2020 confirmed that the mainland was formulating a blacklist of "diehard Taiwan secessionists," after Hong Kong media revealed the news recently. Su Tseng-chang, head of Taiwan's executive body and an extreme secessionist with strong hostility to the Chinese mainland, is on the blacklist of diehard Taiwan secessionists, an authoritative source told the Global Times.
Those on the list will be punished in accordance with the laws and may face criminal prosecution. That means they will no longer be able to set foot in Hong Kong, Macao and the Chinese mainland, and it will also be very dangerous for them to travel to other countries and regions. In short, this list will be a sword of Damocles hanging over their heads for a long time to come, and they will never know when it will come down. Taiwan-based observers said some Taiwan entrepreneurs have no choice but to provide a "political capital contribution" to the DPP during local elections, as the separatist party is now controlling the island, and the DPP will seek revenge if they don't show support. So when blacklisting the sponsors and funders of the Taiwan secessionists, the mainland should be cautious and not harm the innocent, they said.
This is actually a rather clever extenstion of the resumption of China’s efforts to get Taiwan’s diplomatic allies to break their ties with the island and switch their recognition to Beijing. In this case, countries that do recognize Beijing would be discouraged from allowing individuals on the blacklist from entering the country, or having business ties with entities n the country's jurisdiction. It is something of an extension of the "hostage diplomacy" Chinese implemented when Canadian nationals Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were detained days after the arrest of Huawei Technologies' chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on 01 December 2018. This is, however, no different in principle from the worldwide assets freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo that the United States routinely imposes on terrorists and other evil-doers.
The blacklisting evidently encourages the sort of craven apology by any company or entrepreneur desperate to protect its China business, or indeed any business anywhere that might be harmed by blacklisting. Actor and former wrestler John Cena posted an awful video in Chinese on Sina Weibo begging China to forgive him after he referred to Taiwan as a country during an interview promoting the latest “Fast & Furious” film. Houston Rockets basketball boss Daryl Morey exercised free speech with a tweet supporting Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters: “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” But in the face of China’s belligerent reaction to the tweet, the NBA cravenly capitulated. It damned Morey’s “regrettable” sentiments that had “deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China.” Luxury jewelry brand Tiffany & Co. made its own craven apology to China over an ad depicting an Asian model with her hand over her right eye. The image was suspected of being supportive of the Hong Kong protesters. Mercedes-Benz apologized for quoting the Dalai Lama on Instagram.
Criticism and self-criticism are significant instruments for the CPC. As Chairman Mao said: "Those who can only follow the old routine in a revolutionary period ... go so far as to confound right and wrong and turn things upside down. .... Afterwards, they have to admit defeat and do a little self-criticism. " [Introductory note to "This Township Went Co-operative in Two Years" (1955), The Socialist Upsurge in China's Countryside, Chinese ed., Vol. II.] In the Chinese criminal justice system, self-criticism and re-education is the processs whereby the errant litigant or defendant fully understands, appreciates and acknowledges the error of his or her ways, knuckling under to authority. The criminal justice system is less about resolving whether wrongdoing has occurred than it is about demonstrating the party’s uniquely correct view of truth and justice.
On 02 January 2020, PRC state media aggressively highlighted the detention of eight doctors in Wuhan who warned about new virus reports via social media in late December 2019, including Dr. Li Wenliang. Li, who later died from the virus, was condemned for “making false statements” on the Internet and was forced to write a self-criticism saying his warnings “had a negative impact.” In the Xi era, the drama of self-criticism is intended to shore up the fragile foundation of the Party’s moral legitimacy.
Mainland experts began formulating such lists in 2019. The list will include the following people: core members of the DPP, as they are ruling the island and able to make concrete damage to cross-Straits ties; members of radical secessionist groups and political parties like Formosa Alliance, Taiwan Solidarity Union and the New Power Party, who are pushing a so-called "independence referendum" to illegally challenge the status quo of the cross-Straits situation.
Mainland experts believe that although the content of the list remains unknown, the blacklist would be a huge deterrent against Taiwan secessionists, as it shows that public opinion and the legal basis for the mainland to crack down on Taiwan secessionists and their paymasters have been completed. Taiwan secessionists and their separatist activities are the biggest threat to peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits and the biggest obstacle to the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations, said Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, in response to the mainland's reported move to formulate a blacklist of "diehard Taiwan secessionists."
"Moves made by secessionists to provoke China's sovereignty and territorial integrity can never be tolerated… The aim of cracking down on secessionists and their supporters and paymasters is to safeguard peace and stability and the interests of Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits," said Zhu in response to questions on the blacklist. For the "diehard secessionists" and their funders on the blacklist, the mainland will take strict measures to bring them to justice in accordance with the Anti-Secession Law, the Criminal Law and the National Security Law. They will be held accountable for life.
The blacklist will also be dynamic and flexible, as the mainland will give chances to some secessionists to correct their ideas and stand with the right side of history, a mainland expert said, adding that some pro-secessionist media and TV commentators should also be listed as they have "political influence to poison the cross-Straits ties by spreading rumors and incite secessionism on the media."
Chinese mainland experts said once the blacklist is officially released, it would have the same significance as "the war criminals list of the civil war" which was issued by the Communist Party of China (CPC) in December 1948 and January 1949, a few months before the last major battle launched by the People's Liberation Army against the KMT military forces to reunify the Chinese mainland. Issuing the 1949 war criminals list told people across the country who should be held responsible for the war, and clearly explain the legitimacy and necessity of the CPC to bring them to justice, said experts, adding that the potential Taiwan secessionist blacklist will have the same function. Apart from clarifying who should be punished, it also lists who should be held responsible for the worsening cross-Straits ties and any potential war.
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