Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Lord Koxinga/WikiCommons/CC BY-SA 3.0
A CHINESE INFLUENCER will have her residency permit revoked for online videos supportive of the forcible military annexation of Taiwan by China. The case will prove a litmus test on the limits of free speech in Taiwan, not only with regards to pro-unification views, but also the rights of Chinese spouses in Taiwan.
The influencer in question is surnamed Liu and runs a Douyin channel called “Yaya in Taiwan”. Liu has over 400,000 followers and has residency in Taiwan due to being married to a Taiwanese national.
Statements by Liu on her Douyin channel in the past have included claims that “The mainland does not need any reason to reunify Taiwan by force.” Liu has also lashed out at the notion of Taiwan buying weapons from the US as drones as useless, suggesting that this is “Showing off in front of Lord Guan,” referring to the Chinese God of War, and stating that, “It is useless to buy weapons. It would be better to go back to the arms of the motherland.”
Per a decision by the National Immigration Agency (NIA). Liu’s residency permit will be revoked. Liu will not be allowed to apply again for five years. That being said, the NIA has stated that it will give Liu time out of humanitarian concerns, given her family members.
The NIA’s grounds for revoking Liu’s residency permit are on the basis of Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family-based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area”. Specifically, Liu’s actions are framed as endangering national security, disrupting Taiwan’s democratic system, and seeking to profit from this given that she is a Douyin influencer.
The NIA previously held a meeting with Liu, which was framed as an opportunity for Liu to explain her stances. Liu was asked if she had contact with Chinese government officials or received instructions from them as part of United Front activity in Taiwan, or Chinese disinformation efforts. Likewise, Liu was questioned about frequently bringing up military matters in her videos, intimating that resistance by Taiwan is futile.
The National Immigration Agency. Photo credit: Solomon203/WikiCommons/CC BY-SA 4.0
After the questioning, Liu criticized the government as “interrogating” her and suggested that the Taiwanese government was infringing on fundamental freedoms of speech. Liu stated that she hoped for peace in Taiwan more than anyone else and that it was the pro-independence camp that threatened peace.
The Liu case takes place at a time in which there is rising concern over Taiwanese entertainers accepting pay and direction from Chinese government officials, as part of United Front efforts. Similarly, there is rising concern about the number of Taiwanese who hold Chinese national IDs. Both issues became widely discussed after a viral YouTube video by anti-CCP influencer Pa Chiung and former pro-CCP rapper Chen Po-yuan, who previously recorded an undercover video with Chiung to shed light on the operations of China’s United Front activities directed toward Taiwan. Chiung claims that he was the one who reported Liu to authorities.
Administrative agencies of the Lai administration such as the NIA or Mainland Affairs Council have also grown more combative regarding Chinese influence in Taiwan. Former president Ma Ying-jeou was recently questioned by the NIA about comments made by a Chinese student who participated in a student delegation to Taiwan organized by Ma, the student having referred to Taiwan as part of China in public comments.
The issue of Chinese spouses of Taiwanese has long been contentious. The KMT has long positioned itself as the defender of the rights and interests of Chinese spouses, while framing the DPP as unfairly targeting them.
This is not the only time in which the Chinese spouse of a Taiwanese who is an online influencer came up as a political issue either. Yet in the main preceding incident of note, it was KMT legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin who lashed out at a Chinese influencer residing in Taiwan by accusing her of being a proxy of the DPP. The influencer in question, who went by “Anxious Housewife Lia” publicly, had expressed support for Taiwan’s democracy in the past, but emphasized that she hoped to stay out of politics to still be able to safely visit her parents in China. Lia had previously faced the danger of potentially being blocked from returning to Taiwan by Chinese authorities after a visit home.
With the NIA’s actions directed toward Liu, it is to be seen whether the securitization of the issue stands up to legal scrutiny. After all, Liu is accused of not directly collaborating with Chinese disinformation efforts, but expressing views supportive of the military annexation of Taiwan. Many Taiwanese, including veterans who then go on to travel to China to meet with Chinese government officials, in fact, hold similar views.
It can be broadly expected that the KMT will defend Liu. The KMT has taken to framing any kind of DPP effort to curb Chinese influence as aimed at undue influence over politics, including efforts to regulate Chinese streaming services, or to dissolve pro-Chinese unification political parties with links to organized crime. In particular, the KMT has frequently sought to redirect the issue toward pro-independence groups, suggesting that pro-independence groups are those who are truly dangerous to Taiwanese society, and that the DPP has taken to curbing freedoms of speech in order to target enemies.