If you have been following the Taiwan-China tensions for a while then you must be aware that there was a detention made by China last year of a Taiwanese activist who is known to be demanding independence for Taiwan from China. This activist was detained in August last year by the Chinese authorities and there was no word about him since then. It is likely that most people must have forgotten about this incident and that it also happened. This incident happened last year right after the visit of former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan. The fact that this Taiwanese activist traveled to China, for unknown reasons, was a huge red flag on its own as well.
Now, the incident has re-surfaced and the reason is that this Taiwanese activist has now been formally arrested by the Chinese authorities for alleged “secession” inside their territory. Basically, he has been charged for performing anti-national activities and inciting people towards independence of Taiwan which China strongly opposes. It is worth noting that China has not even ruled out the use of the military to invade Taiwan and rule them what it calls a “peaceful reunification”.
Talking about the arrest, while Taiwan has not given any statement on this matter, the country has always maintained the advisory that its citizens should travel to mainland China with much caution because of the fact that such arrests have been too frequent in the recent times. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council did release a statement saying that “The government reiterates that Yang is innocent and calls on the Chinese Communist Party to release Yang and allow him to return to Taiwan as soon as possible,”
It is worth noting that the activist, named Yang Chih-yuan, even established a pro-independence political party inside Taiwan, which is now defunct as known from the official records of the Taiwan ministry. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council also added in their statement that “When the epidemic on both sides of the strait is gradually slowing down and people on both sides are hoping to resume normal exchanges, the mainland arbitrarily arrested Taiwanese people, seriously harming the rights and interests of our people and creating fear,”
