Yang Chih-yuan, deputy chair of the Taiwan National Party, has been in solitary confinement since in August 2022. His political work was limited to the island. By arresting and indicting him, China is stepping up its crackdown. Other activists and political leaders face the prospect of possible extradition requests from third countries.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – Chinese authorities announced the formal arrest and indictment of a Taiwanese politician in favour of Taiwanese independence on “secession” charges, amid growing political, diplomatic and military pressure against Taiwan.
Yang Chih-yuan, deputy chairman of the Taiwanese National Party (TNP), was arrested in August last year and has been held in solitary confinement ever since.
The criminal case against him is based on his activities related to the island, with charges focused on alleged violations of China’s infamous national security law.
The arrest, last summer, came in the aftermath of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, which angered China, followed by days of massive Chinese military exercises in the waters surrounding the island.
Security police arrested the politician in Wenzhou, a city on the south-eastern coast of mainland China, and indicted for founding the pro-independence Taiwanese National Party and promoting Taiwan’s membership in the United Nations as a "sovereign and independent country".
Yang was placed in "residential surveillance at a designated location" on 4 August 2022, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, with no access to a lawyer or to family visits for months.
State media accused Yang of “actively scheming” towards formal independence for Taiwan, which mainland China considers a “rebel” province, part and parcel of its national territory.
In the past he was also accused of "colluding" with separatist forces in Hong Kong, particularly during the 2019 street protests, a charge that appears to have been dropped.
The prosecutor explicitly said that the defendant was suspected of the "crime of secession" of Taiwan. His arrest was formally approved by the Wenzhou Municipal People's Procuratorate, while his trial is expected shortly.
All of Yang's political work took place on the island, noted Lee Ming-cheh, a Taiwanese academic who served a five-year prison sentence in China for "subversion" linked to his active support for Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
Yang’s arrest and prosecution is a “warning” to any Taiwanese active in politics, Lee explained.
In fact, for him, "The risk of something like this happening to Taiwanese people isn't confined to China, Hong Kong or Macau”.
Now “Anyone who is regarded by them as a Taiwan independence activist could wind up getting extradited from any country that has extradition agreements with China or Hong Kong," he added.
For Lee, who was the first Taiwanese to be jailed under China's national security law, Yang's case is a clear example of Beijing's iron fist towards pro-independence Taiwanese.
Wang Chih-sheng, secretary general of the China Asia-Pacific Elite Exchange Association, said the sort of activities Yang engaged in are totally normal behaviour in a democratic environment like Taiwan.