Taiwan Blacklist Only For A Small Minority: Beijing

Beijing said on Wednesday that a blacklist of "diehard" supporters of Taiwan independence it is considering drawing up would only target a small number of people.

Taiwan condemned the plan after the pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao first reported on it this month. The Global Times has said the list could include senior Taiwanese government officials.

Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office, said the "list of diehard Taiwan secessionists" now under consideration was only aimed at a very small number of independence supporters and those who fund them.

"It is absolutely not aimed at the vast majority of Taiwan compatriots," she told a regular news briefing in Beijing.

Zhu did not give details or a timeframe, saying only that Beijing would take "targeted steps to severely punish in accordance with the law" those it viewed as hard-core backers of independence.

Mainland media have said the 2005 Anti-Secession Law, which mandates the use of force if Beijing judges Taiwan to have declared independence, as well as national security legislation, could be used to charge those on the list.

It is unclear how that would play out, as mainland courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan, and Taiwan's government leaders do not visit the mainland.

Separately, Zhu said a court in Anhui province this week sentenced a Taiwanese citizen to four years in prison for espionage.

Shih Cheng-ping, who disappeared after travelling to the mainland in August 2018, was one of several Taiwan residents who appeared on a television programme by state broadcaster CCTV in October "confessing" to spying on the mainland.

China had "fully safeguarded" Shih's rights during the hearing, Zhu said. (Additional reporting by Reuters/AFP)