China sentences Taiwan-based publisher to three years’ jail on ‘secession’ charges
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Gusa Publishing editor-in-chief Li Yanhe had published books critical of China’s ruling Communist Party.
PHOTO: GUSA PUBLISHING/FACEBOOK
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Beijing - China said on March 26 it had sentenced a publisher to three years in prison for “inciting secession”.
Li Yanhe, editor-in-chief of Gusa Publishing, went missing during a visit to mainland China in 2023 before the Chinese authorities revealed he was being investigated for national security crimes.
On March 26, Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) – responsible for relations with the island – said Li had been tried and sentenced in Shanghai in February.
Spokesman Chen Binhua told a press conference that Li pleaded guilty and had not appealed against the judgment.
Mainland-born Li lived in Taiwan, where he had published books critical of China’s ruling Communist Party, including a history of alleged oppression in the western region of Xinjiang.
China has ramped up military and political pressure on self-ruled Taiwan in recent years, which it claims as its territory. Beijing has threatened to use force to bring the island under its control.
Earlier in March, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te branded China a “foreign hostile force”
Beijing also on March 26 announced a new reporting portal for people to inform on “malicious acts” by Taiwan independence “thugs and accomplices”.
The TAO website’s homepage now features a floating pop-up box for a “reporting special column”, which leads users to another page with an e-mail address for “victims of persecution” to seek help.
Announcing the new e-mail inbox, Mr Chen accused Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party of “fabricating charges to suppress different opinions on the island, shutting down freedom of speech... and suppressing” advocates for developing relations with China.
The informant’s inbox comes after Taiwan revoked the residency permit of a mainland Chinese influencer
Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency investigated Liu Zhenya after she posted on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, in support of Beijing’s unification with Taiwan by force.
She had lived on the island for over 10 years but left on March 25 after a court rejected her petition against a government deportation order. AFP
