A Chinese social media influencer has lost her right to residency in Taiwan after advocating for the country’s annexation by Beijing, as Taipei cracks down on growing propaganda, infiltration and espionage from China.
The woman, surnamed Liu, is married to a Taiwanese citizen and has lived in Taiwan for several years.
She frequently posts short video clips on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, under “Yaya in Taiwan” in which she espouses the Chinese government’s position that Taiwan is a part of China and that Beijing should bring it under its control if Taipei continues to resist unification.
Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency said it had revoked the woman’s family-based residence permit on Wednesday and barred her from applying for residency in the country for five years on national security grounds.
The case marks the first time Taiwan has expelled the Chinese spouse of a Taiwanese citizen, said the agency.
It comes as the government hardens its pushback against the spread of pro-China narratives and Chinese propaganda, as well as infiltration and espionage efforts backed by the Chinese state.
On Monday, the defence ministry proposed tightening criminal law to punish Taiwanese soldiers who spread Chinese propaganda or pledge allegiance to the enemy with up to seven years in prison.
Previously, the government had been reluctant to make any moves that could be construed as restrictions on freedom of speech.
But government officials said China had stepped up its disinformation and espionage efforts since Donald Trump took office in the US, with the aim to undermine Taiwan’s internal unity and morale by sowing doubt in the reliability of US support for Taiwan’s security.
Chinese residents of Taiwan are free to advocate the benefits of unification or mention “one country, two systems”, the model Beijing suggests for ruling Taiwan which is universally opposed in Taiwan, said Chiu Chui-cheng, head of the Mainland Affairs Council, Taiwan’s cabinet-level China policy body.
“We respect all that because it falls under the scope of freedom of speech,” he said. But “advocating for unification by force and for war has nothing to do with freedom of speech”.
In a recent video, Liu claimed that Taiwan would be reduced to “dust in less than half an hour” if targeted by the Chinese military.
Previously, she said that “if you don’t want peaceful unification, then we must have non-peaceful unification”, using Beijing’s euphemism for an attack.
In past posts, she has urged China to make a military move, asking why Beijing has not been “doing unification by force already”.
After she was called in for questioning on Monday, Liu complained on her Douyin account that she was being bullied online and questioned why her right to free speech was being denied just because she advocated Chinese patriotism.
Liu could not immediately be reached for comment.
