The list will still be short and should not be released until the next US president takes office.
Beijing is drawing up a blacklist of “Taiwan separatists” as a warning to Taipei not to get too close to Washington, called the South China Morning Post (SCMP) in its edition today.
According to two official sources from mainland China, specialized in Taiwanese affairs, although the idea for the list first came up two years ago, the decision to go ahead came after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, having stated that Taiwan “is not part of China”.
One of the sources, who works for a government think tank specializing in Taiwanese affairs, says that the names of the people targeted do not get them publicly known until next year. “The announcement of the list is likely to occur after the inauguration of the next president of the United States,” said the source, who declined to be named.
The expert also guaranteed that the targets would be anyone who openly defends Taiwan’s independence, presses aggressively for Taiwan’s independence or generously funds separatists.
The list was first released by the pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao.
A Chinese official from the continent, based in Hong Kong, said the idea of a blacklist was proposed to the leadership of Xi Jinping in May 2018. However, Beijing only made the decision to go ahead in the last few days because “there are many signs dangerous ”.
In addition to Pompeo’s speech, the Taiwanese Navy command acknowledged last week’s news that a contingent of US Marine Raiders was on a month-long mission in Taiwan to train the local military. However, the US and Taiwan quickly distanced themselves from reports of cooperation.
Beijing would keep the list “very short, targeting only a handful of separatist leaders so as not to affect business in the Taiwan Strait,” said the think tank source heard by the SCMP.
Both sources confirmed that the list of possible sanctions would be based on the continent’s Anti-Secession Law, Criminal Law and National Security Law, which classify separatist activities as a crime with a possible life sentence.
The final list is drawn up, the same source says, assuming that prominent personalities would probably appear with “Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen, key members of his government who are pushing for Taiwan-US relations and key people in the Democratic Progressive Party of Tsai ”.
