While Beijing lacks jurisdiction over Taiwan, new rules criminalising independence could deter travel
China has officially defined behaviour aimed at Taiwan independence as a criminal act, threatening punishments up to the death penalty for perpetrators, in a move that analysts said would further inflame tensions across the Strait.
The Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the ministries for public security and state security and the justice ministry jointly announced on Friday “guidelines for punishing ‘Taiwan independence’ diehard separatists for committing crimes of secession and the incitement of secession”.
The new rules lay out the general definition of the crimes, and the standards for punishment on the basis of existing law such as China’s criminal code, its Criminal Procedure Law and the 2005 Anti-Secession Law aimed at Taiwan, state news agency Xinhua said.
The new rules defined Taiwan independence as a crime under Chinese laws for the first time, analysts said.
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