- Those sanctioned and their close relatives will be barred from entering mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau.
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| Taiwan starts an artillery drill while China continues its maneuvers |
The Taiwan Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party announced Tuesday sanctions against those it described as "Taiwanese separatist fanatics," the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Among the people sanctioned are the vice president of the Legislative Assembly of Taiwan, Tsai Chi-chang, activists such as Lin Fei-fan, and other members of the Democratic Progressive Party (ruler on the island) such as Bi-Khim Hsiao, Wang Ting-yu or Koo Li-Hsiung.
These people thus join a list that already included, among others, the current islander Minister of Foreign Affairs, Joseph Wu.
Those sanctioned and their close relatives will be barred from entering mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macao, and their companies and organizations will not be allowed to carry out activities in mainland China for profit.
"Some fanatic Taiwanese separatists have gone to great lengths to collude with foreign forces to advocate Taiwan independence"
According to a spokesman for the Office quoted by Xinhua, those on the list will have to "be accountable to the law for life."
The Office said that "some fanatic Taiwanese separatists have gone to great lengths to collude with foreign forces to advocate Taiwan independence," behavior that became "more egregious" during the US House Speaker's trip. Nancy Pelosi, to the island earlier this month.
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China responded to the trip with military maneuvers around the island and with trade sanctions on some Taiwanese products, as well as on Pelosi herself and her close relatives.
Shortly after the US politician's visit, Chinese authorities arrested a Taiwanese citizen residing in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou for his alleged involvement in "separatist activities."
China insists on "reunifying" the People's Republic with the island, which has been governed autonomously since the nationalists of the Kuomintang (KMT) withdrew there in 1949 after losing the civil war against the communists and continued with the regime of the Republic of China, culminating in the transition to democracy in the 1990s.
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