China assured Friday, November 5 that it would punish Taiwanese “
hard-line
” independence
politicians
by prohibiting them from visiting, at a time when tensions between Beijing and Taipei have been at their highest for years.
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The Bureau of Taiwanese Affairs in Beijing on Friday warned that "
the mainland will retain the criminal responsibility of the die-hards of independence for Taiwan in accordance with the law, and this for life
."
In a statement, a spokeswoman for this Chinese government body, Zhu Fenglian, called Taiwanese Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang, Taiwanese Parliament Speaker Yu Shyi-kun and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu as members of a minority of independence supporters.
New restrictions
According to Zhu, they "
tried to instigate a confrontation across the Strait, maliciously attacked and slandered the mainland (...) seriously damaging relations on both sides of the Strait
". She added that Beijing had banned them and their families from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Their relations will also be barred from any cooperation with organizations and individuals on the continent, she added without further details.
“
Those who forget their ancestors, betray their motherland and divide the country will not end well,
” Zhu said.
His comments come the day after statements by the head of a delegation from the European Parliament visiting Taipei, Raphaël Glucksmann, who described Taiwanese democracy as a “
treasure
” to be protected, promising to continue to support the island.
The Taiwanese prime minister ignored the threat from Beijing, assuring that he "
would not be impressed
".
Beijing "
has never ruled Taiwan but wants to play little boss,
" Su told parliament about this list of "
hardliners
".
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The island was at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 the refuge of the nationalists of the Kuomintang, led by Tchang Kaï-shek and defeated by the communists of Mao Tse-tung. Its 23 million inhabitants have since lived under the threat of an invasion. Beijing, which claims its sovereignty over the island, has stepped up its actions in recent years to isolate Taiwan on the international scene and stop any attempt to recognize as an independent state this territory which has its own government.
Tensions on both sides of the Strait have been mounting since the election in 2016 to the Taiwanese presidency of Tsai Ing-wen, from a party traditionally hostile to Beijing.
China recently stepped up military activity around Taiwan, and a record number of Chinese warplane incursions were recorded in October in Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (Adiz), a perimeter that starts at 200 km from the Taiwanese coast.