China says it is verifying e-mail tips about Taiwan ‘separatist’ activity
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China’s government said on Sept 11 it will carefully review e-mail tips it has received about Taiwan “separatist” activity, adding that “good people” have nothing to worry about.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BEIJING - China’s government said on Sept 11 it will carefully review e-mail tips it has received about Taiwan “separatist” activity, adding that “good people” have nothing to worry about.
China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, over the strident objections of the government in Taipei.
Beijing has been stepping up its campaign against those it accuses of being “separatists”. In June, it threatened to execute “die-hard separatists”
Asked at a routine news conference in Beijing how the new e-mail system was working, Mr Chen Binhua, spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, reiterated that their measures targeted only a very small minority.
“After the establishment of the mailbox for reporting die-hard Taiwan independence elements, people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have responded with practical actions,” he said.
This is a reflection of the “common aspirations” of people on either side of the strait, Mr Chen added.
“We will carefully verify and screen the clues we receive,” he said. “We will never let a single Taiwan independence element off the hook, but we will never wrongly accuse good people, either.”
Taiwan’s government, which says only the island’s people can decide their future, has condemned China’s new campaign and warned against all but absolutely necessary travel to the country. China says that is alarmist nonsense.
China has a particular hatred of Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, inaugurated in May,
“Taiwan independence is a scourge, a dead end; it won’t come to pass,” Mr Chen said, speaking of Mr Lai’s first 100 days in office.
Mr Lai has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing
