China Threatens The First Time Laws For Supporting Taiwan's Independence, Targets PM To Taiwan's Foreign Minister

Illustration of the flags of China and Taiwan. (Source: Stanford News.edu)

JAKARTA - China will hold people who support Taiwan independence criminally responsible for life, a spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office said Friday.

It is the first time China has concretely imposed punishment for people it deems to be pro-Taiwan independence, as tensions escalate between the mainland and the island China claims as its own.

The office named Taiwanese Prime Minister (PM) Su Tseng-chang, Parliament Speaker You Si-kun and Foreign Minister (Foreign Minister) Joseph Wu as "stubborn pro-Taiwan independence" people, and announced for the first time that it had compile a list of people who fall into this category.

China will impose penalties on the people on the list, by not allowing them to enter the mainland and the China Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong and Macau, spokesman Zhu Fenglian said in a statement on Friday, citing Reuters Nov. 5.

Blacklisted persons will not be allowed to cooperate with entities or people from the mainland. Companies or entities that fund them will not be allowed to profit from the mainland, he said.

To note, Taiwanese politicians partially rely on donations from corporations to fund their election campaigns. Many Taiwanese companies benefit from doing business with mainland China. Tens of thousands of Taiwanese currently work on the mainland.

"China will also take other necessary measures against these people," Zhu said.

He said the message China wanted to send to supporters of Taiwan independence was: "Those who forget their ancestors, betray their homeland and divide the country, will never end well and will be rejected by the people and judged by history."

Regarding this threat, Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.