Taiwan has urged its citizens to avoid travelling to China and the semi-autonomous territories of Hong Kong and Macau following threats from Beijing to execute people who support independence for the self-governing island democracy.
June 27, 2024 11:55 PM ET
• 2 min read
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan has urged its citizens to avoid travel to China and its semi-autonomous territories of Hong Kong and Macau following threats from Beijing to execute independence supporters in the self-governing island nation.
Liang Wenjie, spokesman and vice-chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, announced the recommendation at a press conference on Thursday.
This comes amid growing threats from China, which claims Taiwan is its territory and will annex it by force if necessary.
China's threats to hunt down and execute “hardliners” for Taiwan independence came following the election of Lai Ching-te, a pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party member, as president. China has refused all contact with the Taiwanese government since the 2016 election of former DPP president Tsai Ing-wen, who rejected China's demand that Taiwan be recognized as part of China, a demand seen as a precursor to political unification between Taiwan and China.
“In response to the new guidelines on so-called 'national secession crimes,' the government has a responsibility to remind its citizens that such visits carry real risks,” Liang said. The government does not ban visits, but visitors should not express political opinions, possess books or post online about topics that the authoritarian Communist Party could use to detain or prosecute.
Hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese people live in or travel to China each year for business, tourism or family visits. China also hosts visits by local Taiwanese officials and leaders of the opposition Kuomintang party, which supports eventual unification with Taiwan.
While the two sides have direct flights and mainland Chinese nationals are allowed to visit, Beijing has severely restricted tourism to the island as a way to exert economic pressure on the government, in addition to conducting intimidating military drills and routinely deploying warships and military aircraft around the island.
