BEIJING - China handed a nine-year prison term to a Taiwanese political activist convicted of "separatism," a rare sentence that prompted Taiwan to warn its people about the dangers of travelling across the strait.
Yang Chih-yuan received the term in a court in the eastern city of Wenzhou, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said in a briefing on Thursday, according to the semi-official Central News Agency.
China's ruling Communist Party intended for the "case to intimidate the people of Taiwan," said MAC Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh, adding that people from the democracy of 23 million should be prudent when considering going across the strait.
While China has jailed people before for what it says is trying to break up its territory, they’ve usually been citizens of the Asian nation, like Uyghurs in the restive far western region of Xinjiang. Such cases involving people from Taiwan are rare.
The episode involving Yang adds to the tensions between Beijing and Taipei that have mounted since Lai Ching-te took over as Taiwan’s president in May. China deeply distrusts Lai, accusing him of pushing to formalise Taiwan’s independence.
Earlier this year, China held a major military drill around Taiwan, a chip hub that the United States backs economically, politically and militarily. Beijing has also stepped up pressure on offshore islets that Taipei controls and peeled off a diplomatic ally.
In 2023, former Taiwan Premier Chen Chien-jen urged China to free Yang, who was arrested in 2022 in Wenzhou. At the same time, China said a publisher from Taiwan had come under investigation for alleged involvement in activities that hurt national security. There’s been no update to that case.
China’s state security authorities detained Yang for setting up an illegal party to promote Taiwan’s independence, the official Xinhua News Agency reported earlier.
He was also accused of advocating for Taiwan to join the United Nations (UN) as an independent sovereign country, the report said.
Yang appears to have been living in China in the first half of 2022, though it’s unclear what he was doing there. When he was still in Taiwan, he co-founded a minor political party.
Chinese state media has not reported on Yang's sentencing and judicial authorities have not released documents about it.
Yang Chih-yuan received the term in a court in the eastern city of Wenzhou, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said in a briefing on Thursday, according to the semi-official Central News Agency.
China's ruling Communist Party intended for the "case to intimidate the people of Taiwan," said MAC Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh, adding that people from the democracy of 23 million should be prudent when considering going across the strait.
While China has jailed people before for what it says is trying to break up its territory, they’ve usually been citizens of the Asian nation, like Uyghurs in the restive far western region of Xinjiang. Such cases involving people from Taiwan are rare.
The episode involving Yang adds to the tensions between Beijing and Taipei that have mounted since Lai Ching-te took over as Taiwan’s president in May. China deeply distrusts Lai, accusing him of pushing to formalise Taiwan’s independence.
Earlier this year, China held a major military drill around Taiwan, a chip hub that the United States backs economically, politically and militarily. Beijing has also stepped up pressure on offshore islets that Taipei controls and peeled off a diplomatic ally.
In 2023, former Taiwan Premier Chen Chien-jen urged China to free Yang, who was arrested in 2022 in Wenzhou. At the same time, China said a publisher from Taiwan had come under investigation for alleged involvement in activities that hurt national security. There’s been no update to that case.
China’s state security authorities detained Yang for setting up an illegal party to promote Taiwan’s independence, the official Xinhua News Agency reported earlier.
He was also accused of advocating for Taiwan to join the United Nations (UN) as an independent sovereign country, the report said.
Yang appears to have been living in China in the first half of 2022, though it’s unclear what he was doing there. When he was still in Taiwan, he co-founded a minor political party.
Chinese state media has not reported on Yang's sentencing and judicial authorities have not released documents about it.
