Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: N509FZ/WikiCommons/CC BY-SA 4.0
IT PROVES NOTABLE that, according to the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), the number of Taiwanese detained by China has tripled this year. This follows up on previous statements by the MAC that nine Taiwanese go missing in China each month. Although some Taiwanese may have simply befallen unfortunate accidents and gone missing, such as while hiking, it is believed that these disappearances are primarily individuals held on political causes.
The MAC made such comments in response to questioning from legislator Puma Shen of the DPP. Chinese authorities currently claim that Shen is under investigation by the Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau. It is generally thought that actions by the Chinese government, such as issuing bounties on Taiwanese activists, politicians, or members of the military, or offering cash rewards for information on them, is aimed at creating the perception among the public that China already legally has jurisdiction over Taiwan. These claims may assist China in bolstering its legitimacy in Taiwan, while aiming to frame the DPP government as illegitimate.
Last year, the Taiwanese government sanctioned Shen’s father, Shen Tu-ching, from conducting business deals in China. Shen Tu-ching is the head of Sicuens International, a car part dealer. Shen was previously already sanctioned by China as a “Taiwanese independence hired thug.” But it was newer for the family member of a political figure to be sanctioned.
Indeed, after news of the sanctions, the Chinese government, as well as pro-Beijing media outlets in Hong Kong, such as the Ta Kung Pao, alleged that Shen Tu-ching makes a business selling cheap Chinese car parts at higher prices internationally. Likewise, claims circulated in such media outlets are that Shen Tu-ching is involved in affairs with Chinese women. The attempt was evidently to discredit Puma Shen by discrediting his father.
It may not be surprising as to why Shen has been a particular object of ire for China. Shen, a disinformation expert, has served in a number of roles in Taiwanese civil society, including as chair of the Taiwan Association for Human Rights. Shen is better known, however, as first one of the co-founders of the disinformation research organization Doublethink Labs, then as one of the co-founders of the civil defense training organization, the Kuma Academy.
Individuals involved in civil defense efforts have been disproportionately targeted by the Chinese government in sanctions. Apart from Shen, former Sunflower Movement student leader Lin Fei-fan, who serves on the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee as deputy secretary-general of the National Security Council, and UMC founder and Kuma Academy funder Robert Tsao are among those to be sanctioned. The Kuma Academy itself is the only organization to have been sanctioned.
Still, the narrative from the KMT is often that it is the DPP that is provoking China. Efforts to increase the military budget or to strengthen civil defense training in society are attacked as provocative.
To this extent, the KMT has sought to frame the Kuma Academy and other civil defense efforts as money laundering operations that aim at profiting from war. The KMT has hit out at the Kuma Academy’s funding with the allegation that this involves DPP corruption, as well as suggesting that Shen is hypocritical in that his father’s company works in the Chinese market, but Shen is involved in civil defense efforts. The claim is that Shen seeks to play both sides of the Taiwan Strait off each other in order to profit.
It is unlikely that the KMT would take seriously threats directed at Taiwanese, even if it may be the case that the number of Taiwanese detained in China has substantially increased. One prominent case in point was when KMT legislative caucus leader Fu Kun-chi made a trip to Hong Kong, during which a member of his delegation was detained on money laundering charges. Fu was later criticized for not reporting this detention to the MAC and failing to aid his fellow Taiwanese. Fu’s trip further courted controversy in that he attempted to conceal the trip by pretending he was still in Taiwan, as well as that he claimed to represent the central government when speaking to Chinese government officials.
Although it is highly unusual for a member of a delegation to China to be detained in this way, news of the arrest did not lead to any significant reaction in the pan-Blue camp. Moreover, when it comes to the limited number of Taiwanese who are known to be detained in China, several are pro-unification academics, and yet their arrests have failed to become any cause celebre in the pan-Blue camp.