At the Cabinet's weekly meeting Thursday, Premier Cho Jung-tai received a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) report on the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) implementation of the Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law, its impact on Taiwan, and the Taiwanese government's response measures.
The premier said that, in recent years, China has continually enacted legal instruments with extraterritorial jurisdiction and sanctioning powers, including its Anti-Secession Law, Counter-Espionage Law, Data Security Law, Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law and even 22 judicial guidelines on punishing Taiwanese independence. This has created an increasingly extensive network of long-arm jurisdiction while steadily expanding the scope of individuals subject to such laws. The aim is to pressure the people of Taiwan into submitting to the political framework imposed by the CCP and to advance its unification agenda by further embedding it in law.
Premier Cho said that the CCP's implementation of the Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law on July 1 has further institutionalized and codified its practices of cross-border transnational repression. The law seeks to extend China's political jurisdiction, ideological control and governance through fear beyond all borders, using vague, ill-defined authoritarian legal concepts in an attempt to restrict people's freedom of expression, thought and political participation worldwide.
The premier stated that the Executive Yuan will follow President Lai Ching-te's directives and take action along three lines: prevention, protection and countermeasures. The government will establish, under the Executive Yuan, an interagency coordination platform to counter China's transnational repression, integrating the efforts of the Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Justice, MAC and other relevant bodies to ensure the safety of Taiwanese citizens. He also directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work with other ministries and agencies in expanding cooperation with like-minded countries and rallying democracies worldwide to jointly counter China's coercive actions.
Premier Cho warned that in China's legal warfare against Taiwan, it is gradually shifting from a strategy of influencing politics through economic leverage to one based on using laws and regulations to advance unification. In the future, China is expected to employ a range of legal tools to increase political pressure on Taiwanese people, businesses, organizations and youth exchange activities, aiming to compel political expressions of allegiance. This will also pose greater risks for Taiwanese citizens who are simply engaged in cross-strait exchanges. The premier thus instructed the MAC and other relevant ministries and agencies to reinforce public awareness of these risks, safeguard Taiwanese citizens and ensure healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges on the basis of parity and dignity.