Taiwan Photo: Unsplash

The local authority of Taipei, in the island of Taiwan, has investigated a Chinese mainland woman, who is the head of a pro-reunification female NGO on the island, with the excuse of "threatening national security."

Local analysts said on Wednesday such "political persecution" will intimidate the public from supporting the reunification and further isolate pro-reunification forces in the island.

He Jianhua, 57, a member of Chinese Unification Promotion Party in Taiwan, who was born in the mainland and married a Taiwan resident in the 1990s and moved to the island, has been accused of violating Taiwan's "national security law" by "receiving funding from the mainland and having connections with the mainland, interfering in Taiwan's local election and threatening the security of the island."

She is the general secretary of a pro-reunification civil organization named "Chinese female association," which was established to serve and unify female immigrants from the mainland and their children in Taiwan. She told the Global Times on Wednesday that the local "law-enforcement" authority is framing charges against her for formulating preparatory plans for persecuting mainlanders in the island, which has nothing to do with a legal issue.

She said, "I have told them [Taiwan 'law-enforcement' authority] that if I receive one penny from the mainland for political purposes, you can execute me at once." On the accusation of having connections with the mainland, she said "We are from the mainland, and the mainland is our home as well even as we live in Taiwan."

"We have exchanges with the mainland-based civil organization like the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots to share sentiments and experiences with Taiwan compatriots who moved to the mainland. But unfortunately, all of these could become excuses for the secessionist Taiwan authority of the Democratic Progressive Party to prosecute," she said.

She has faced a series of lawsuits launched by the DPP authority due to her background and connections with the mainland. And in April this year, due to the uncompleted investigation against her, she cannot return to the mainland, and she missed the last farewell with her mother who died of cancer in the mainland.

"Many women from the mainland who moved to Taiwan due to marriage are scared and dare not speak out. The DPP authority has already harmed this community seriously and many pro-secessionist media and organizations are also hyping hatred against the mainlanders," she said.

Huang Chih-hsien, an expert on cross-Straits relations and a TV commentator from Taiwan, told the Global Times that the persecution against mainland compatriots like He in Taiwan is actually against the "human rights and freedom" that the DPP has always crowed about. 

"In Taiwan, immigrants from Southeast Asia due to marriage can get legal residency status in three years, but those from the mainland need to wait six years. This is discrimination against a specific group of people, and hypocrisy of the Taiwan authority who is yelling 'Taiwan is democracy' and 'follow universal values,'" Huang said.

Chiu Yi, a former "lawmaker" in Taiwan and a Taiwan-based pro-reunification scholar, said the DPP authority has already made the island extremely hostile to the people who support reunification, and the persecution and stigmatization won't stop. He said his family members have also been impacted.

"If you get investigated because you support the reunification or have connections with the mainland, your friends will stay away from you. Even unity within your family will get impacted," he said.

"We will not be intimidated, but there is no guarantee that other people and our family won't, so we sincerely hope the reunification can be realized to end this nightmare as soon as possible," Chiu said.


Newspaper headline: Taiwan investigates mainlander