An honest fact-checker would say that that the Republic of China is a country, fulfilling all reasonable criteria. This unremarkable fact is not altered by the continuous berating and intimidating of Taiwan and its “separatists” by a large nearby practitioner of separateness-denialism, the government of the People’s Republic of China.
Die hard
But too openly and firmly stating the obvious can get you killed if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. Exhibit A: “China threatens death penalty for ‘diehard’ Taiwan separatists” (Reuters, June 21, 2024).
China on Friday threatened to impose the death penalty in extreme cases for “diehard” Taiwan independence separatists, a ratcheting up of pressure even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction on the democratically governed island….
China, which views Taiwan as its own territory….
Taiwan has complained of a pattern of ramped up Chinese pressure since Lai won the election in January, including ongoing military actions, trade sanctions and coast guard patrols around Taiwan-controlled islands next to China.
The new guidelines say China’s courts, prosecutors, public and state security bodies should “severely punish Taiwan independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession crimes in accordance with the law, and resolutely defend national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity”, according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency….
That law gives China the legal basis for military action against Taiwan if it secedes or seems about to.
Sun Ping, an official from China’s Ministry of Public Security, told reporters in Beijing the maximum penalty for the “crime of secession” was the death penalty.
“The sharp sword of legal action will always hang high,” she said.
If China were to invade and conquer the ROC and start killing “diehard” accepters of facts, Xi Jinping, the Chinese dictator, and his henchmen would not be concerned about lack of jurisdiction. Chinese officials may talk about legalities for propaganda purposes and issue new laws and maps for propaganda purposes. But nobody in the mainland government consults niceties of jurisdiction or international law before deciding whether to cause trouble for Taiwan or for anybody else around the world. They don’t actually give a hoot about any legalities.
In fact, though, at present things are just as Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council says: “The Beijing authorities have absolutely no jurisdiction over Taiwan, and the Chinese communists’ so-called laws and norms have no binding force on our people.”
Talk of whether Taiwan or more exactly the Republic of China will ever “secede” or will ever be “about to secede” is senseless.
Already gone
A few qualifying words would have made clear that Reuters is relating what is only the contention of the Chinese Communist Party: a fiction, a lie. But the news agency reports the CCP’s assumption about what Taiwan might do as if it the implication were unexceptionable: “That law gives China the legal basis for military action against Taiwan if it secedes or seems about to.”
Will the Republic of China secede or try to secede from the People’s Republic of China? With equal cause, we might ask the same question about Mexico. Will the diehard separatists in Mexico ever gain enough influence to push Mexico over the edge into secession from the United States? What about Canada? Will Canadian separatists ever realize their dream of breaking away from the U.S. and cobbling together a polity of their very own? Or will Mexico and Canada remain mere provinces of the United States forever?
