Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council says it will now block permits for certain Chinese officials coming to Taiwan, unless they’re coming to meet with the government. The decision comes as part of Taipei's protest of Beijing's policy to label certain individuals in Taiwan as "die-hard separatists."
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00:00Taiwan's main agency that oversees relations with China says that the
00:03anti-separatist guidelines issued by Beijing in June are hurting cross-strait
00:08exchanges. The Mainland Affairs Council says it will now block permits for
00:12certain Chinese officials coming to Taiwan unless they are coming to meet
00:15with the government here. Our reporter Jaime Okon is following this story for
00:19us live in Taipei. Jaime, what did the council say?
00:26Well, in an interview with the Central News Agency, the head of Taiwan's
00:30Mainland Affairs Council, Chou Tse-tung, protested some of China's policies in
00:34which Beijing can label individuals in Taiwan as separatists without any clear
00:39reasoning. Now, he says that this is extremely damaging to normal cross-strait
00:43exchanges, raising antagonism between people on both sides of the Taiwan
00:47Strait, increasing the personal risk of people traveling to the mainland. Chou
00:52also goes as far as saying that basically, if you do not support the
00:56Chinese Communist Party reunification policy, that you may be brought to
01:00justice. Now, the Mainland Affairs Council says it could refuse some permits from
01:04officials in China if they're looking to come to Taiwan unless they're looking to
01:07speak with the government. Now, what Chou is referring to are these so-called 22
01:11guidelines from China, which were released back in June, which
01:15basically says that Beijing can charge anyone that they suspect as supporting
01:19or promoting Taiwanese independence, with the most severe consequence being
01:23the death penalty. Now, it's important to remember that China sees Taiwan as part
01:27of its own territory, and many observers say this is another way to put pressure
01:30on Taiwan. Right now, there's actually a website where you can see a list of
01:35people who have already been labeled as separatists, with the most prominent name
01:39on that list actually being Taiwan's current vice president, Bee Kim-shiu. Now,
01:43Chou's comments in that interview come just a few weeks after the Twin Cities
01:47Forum, which was held here in Taiwan, between representatives from Shanghai and
01:51Taipei, but most notably is that the head of the Shanghai Taiwan Affairs Office
01:57was not permitted to attend, and that caused a bit of a stir here in Taiwan,
02:01with both major political parties speaking out.
02:17Now, this past year has been a bit of a roller coaster for relations between
02:42China and Taiwan, and so now all eyes are going to be on the New Year's speeches
02:46that both sides give, and of course there's always going to be the wild card
02:50of Donald Trump returning to his presidency and his leadership, and
02:54what that can mean for relationships and engagement between both China
02:57and Taiwan.