Taiwan Affairs Office condemns DPP actions

A Chinese mainland spokesman on Friday condemned the Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party for exploiting the case of "Taiwan independence" separatist Yang Chih-yuan, who was sentenced to nine years in prison for the crime of splitting the country, in an attempt to smear the mainland.

Taiwan's mainland affairs authorities said that Yang's case demonstrated that mainland's measures against "Taiwan independence" target all Taiwan people, suggesting that any Taiwan individual could be convicted as a separatist. They called for a careful consideration of the necessity of traveling to the mainland.

Chen Binhua, the spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said that the Intermediate People's Court of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province sentenced Yang to nine years in prison for the crime of splitting the country on Aug 26, depriving him of political rights for three years.

The court found that from 2008 to 2020, Yang actively engaged in activities aimed at splitting the country and seeking "Taiwan independence" in Taiwan, including formulating plans for "Taiwan independence" actions, plotting to promote building the island into "a country", and attempting to promote Taiwan to join the United Nations and other separatist activities that undermine national unity, according to Chen.

The court considered Yang's actions as constituting the crime of splitting the country, with a particularly egregious nature, Chen said.

He said that the DPP authorities maliciously tarnished the just actions of the national judicial organs in lawfully punishing "independence", attempting to equate the vast majority of Taiwan people with a small number of separatists,  and obstruct Taiwan compatriots from engaging in normal cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation.

From January to August this year, over 2.6 million Taiwan compatriots visited the mainland for exchanges, which serves as a concrete action to expose the lies and rumors spread by the DPP authorities, he added.