Beijing banned two Taiwanese ministers from entering China for alleged separatist activities related to "Taiwan independence" on Wednesday, prompting an angry response from Taipei, which said it would not bow to "threats and intimidation."
The office described Taiwanese Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang and Education Minister Cheng Ying-yao as "die-hard Taiwan independence secessionists" and banned them as well as their relatives, from entry. The ban also extends to Hong Kong and Macau.
Beijing claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out the use of force to take control of the island. Taipei strongly objects to Beijing's sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan's people can decide their future.
Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council issued a strong protest, saying the move gravely undermined cross-strait relations and would only provoke anger among the public.
It accused Beijing of seeking to create a "chilling effect beyond the named individuals, to coerce Taiwanese people into abandoning their determination to uphold the status quo and their democratic freedoms."
China was also attempting to claim jurisdiction over Taiwan by treating such cases as "domestic criminal offences", the council said in a statement, calling the efforts clumsy and ineffective.
"Threats and intimidation will never shake the resolve of the Taiwanese people to uphold democracy and freedom," it said. "All serious consequences arising from the Chinese Communist authorities' actions that provoke instability in cross-strait relations must be borne entirely by the Chinese side."
China has now listed 14 people as "secessionists", the office's spokesperson Chen Binhua told reporters at a weekly news briefing, in an announcement that comes a week after the Chinese military carried out its most extensive ever war games around the island. The list already includes Taiwan Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, head of the island's National Security Council Joseph Wu and Defense Minister Wellington Koo.
A third person, Chen Shu-Yi, a prosecutor from Taiwan's High Prosecutors Office, was accused of being an accomplice in alleged separatist activities and will be held "accountable for life".
The spokesperson called on the public to submit evidence and leads on the prosecutor's activities based on which China would impose "severe punishment", without specifying what those measures would be.
Chen said the purpose of the actions against a small number of "Taiwan independence die-hards" was to "fundamentally safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity", and that the moves were not aimed at Taiwanese citizens in general.
Taipei has complained about Beijing’s “long-arm jurisdiction” to pressure the Taiwanese people and said Chinese laws do not apply in Taiwan, which has its own judicial system.
China fired dozens of rockets towards Taiwan and deployed a large number of warships and aircraft near the island last week in massive war games around the island, causing dozens of domestic flights in Taiwan to be cancelled and drawing concern from regional allies and the West.
