MAC condemns Yang’s nine-year prison sentence

SECESSIONIST:
The crime that Taiwanese National Party founder Yang Chih-yuan allegedly committed was living a life like the majority of Taiwanese, an MAC official said

• By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned China for sentencing Taiwanese National Party cofounder Yang Chih-yuan (楊智淵) to nine years in prison for the crime of secession without an open trial or presenting substantial evidence.

“Both the government and Yang’s family refuse to accept such a ruling. We demand that Beijing disclose the verdict in writing immediately and explain the evidence used to support the ruling,” Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told reporters at a news conference.

The crime that Yang allegedly committed was living a life like the majority of Taiwanese, he said.

Photo: Chiu Shu-yu, Taipei Times

The purpose of the case is to frighten Taiwanese and for China to overreach its administrative authority in Taiwan, Liang said.

“The verdict has coincidentally proven that the 22 guidelines Beijing issued in July — allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death ‘Taiwan independence separatists’ — applies to all people in Taiwan,” Liang said.

“Any Taiwanese can be convicted as a ‘Taiwan independence separatist’ as long as Beijing wishes to,” he said

“While China uses a two-pronged strategy to lure Taiwanese to China, it has also used Internet celebrities and China sympathizers in Taiwan to amplify its appeals here. The purpose of these tactics is for Taiwanese to let their guard down,” he added.

Asked about Yang’s possible whereabouts, Liang said that he is likely in Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province, as he was on trial there, adding that the council would keep in close contact with Yang’s family.

Public records show that Yang did not return to Taiwan after leaving for China in January 2022.

In August of that year, a program on China Central Television showed that the Chinese Ministry of State Security officers in Wenzhou had summoned and questioned Yang after accusing him of having been engaged in “Taiwan independence” separatist activities for a long time and that he was suspected of endangering national security.

The Chinese Communists Party subsequently accused him of committing the crimes of secession and inciting secession for pushing for Taiwan’s independence.