Democratic activists in Taiwan and Hong Kong cried foul over China’s heavy-handed decision to compile a global list of critics who have voiced views endorsing independence from communist Beijing.
The list includes the names of prominent boosters of Taiwanese independence, Beijing-backed newspaper Ta Kung Pao and Bloomberg News reported.
The list could include activists both in Taiwan and abroad as well as funders of activities that clash with the mainland, Ta Kung Pao said.
The newspaper is among the media outlets controlled by China’s government through its Hong Kong Liaison Office.
Moreover, state broadcaster Shenzhen Satellite TV noted in a commentary over the weekend that secession was considered a crime by the national security law imposed on Hong Kong in June.
The same law also covers those advocating for Taiwan’s independence.
The law also includes a provision that applies to non-residents residing overseas engaged in anti-Beijing activities.
Ex-Hong Kong lawmaker Nathan Law, 27, who fled to London from the former British colony before the security law took effect, said the reports showed that Beijing is waging a campaign of fear.
“The list will definitely impose a stronger level of white terror and send a threatening signal to those in Hong Kong and in Taiwan that they dare not travel to Hong Kong, China and the other places anymore,” Law said.
Beijing has been seeking to increase pressure on Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen after her re-election to a second four-year term in January.
China’s Communist Party, which views the island as part of its territory despite never controlling it, has ramped up military patrols in recent months.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Tuesday referred questions about the list to the “competent authority,” without elaborating.
“What I can tell you is China is determined to safeguard its national unity and territorial integrity. No separatist attempt will succeed, its only outcome is total failure,” Zhao told reporters.
Any effort to hunt down Taiwanese and Hong Kong activists overseas could provoke a diplomatic crisis with other countries.
Last month, the U.S. charged eight people, including six Chinese nationals, with a three-year campaign to intimidate an American. resident into returning to China to face charges as part of the “Operation Fox Hunt” anti-corruption campaign.
A list of Taiwanese residents who support independence could potentially include millions of names. About one-quarter of the island’s roughly 23 million inhabitants back independence from Beijing, surveys show.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Office said any list would be “counterproductive.”
“China’s attempts to intimidate Taiwanese into self-censorship and incite cross-strait confrontation with such extreme agenda, has destroyed cross-strait peace and stability,” the Taipei-based agency said in a text message to Bloomberg.com.
The list recalled a series of playing cards featuring the images of 13 Taiwanese politicians that circulated on Chinese social media in 2018 amid a debate over whether they should be blacklisted from the mainland.
Huang Kuo-chang, a former Taiwanese lawmaker and independence activist who was on that list, said such intimidation “has always been there.”
“I don’t see the Taiwanese independence movement affected by the list as this is old news and old tricks,” Huang told Bloomberg. “At least I won’t change my own behavior because of the list.”