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The Chinese Communist Party has announced a series of sanctions against Taiwanese officials, citing sympathy for separatists.
Beijing made the announcement Tuesday through its Taiwan office.
Those who have been sanctioned or otherwise punished are prohibited from entering the People’s Republic of China — both the mainland and the islands of Hong Kong and Macau.
“For some time, a small number of ardent supporters of Taiwan independence tried their best to collude with outside forces to carry out the ‘independence’ provocation, deliberately instigated cross-strait confrontation, and sought peace in the Taiwan Strait. and unduly undermined stability,” said a spokesman for the Taiwan Bureau, according to a translation by the South China Morning Post. “During Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan, their performance was very poor.”
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Taiwanese officials facing sanctions have mostly waved the gesture as meaningless or insignificant.
“If you are sanctioned on behalf of the Republic of China Congress to host US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, […] We are proud of that,” said Taiwan’s vice chair Tsai Chi-chang, according to the SCMP.
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Lin Feifang, deputy general secretary of the Democratic Progressive Party, claimed to have received congratulatory messages from friends after the sanctions against him were announced.
“The first thing my friends and colleagues said to me when they learned about the sanctions was ‘Congratulations,'” Lin said, according to the SCMP.
Another sanctioned civil servant, legislator Wang Ting-yu, dismissed the sanctions as “nothing new”.
“As for banning us from visiting, we can always travel elsewhere. , so-called sanctions are not new.
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Pelosi was the highest-level US official to visit Taiwan since House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1997.
China considers Taiwan to be part of Chinese territory, but the Taiwanese government has rejected the claim and has operated as an autonomous democracy since 1949.
Beijing has demanded that countries seeking ties with China must sever formal ties with Taiwan, while the United States continues unofficial ties with the Taiwanese government.
Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and Lisa Bennatan contributed to this report.