Taiwan deports Chinese couple who snuck onto island and disrupted pro-democracy event

Your support helps us to tell the story

Support Now

Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.

Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.

Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.

Louise Thomas

Editor

Find out more

Taiwan deported a Chinese couple who illegally entered the island from mainland China and allegedly disrupted a pro-democracy protest in Taipei.

Taiwan’s government said on Thursday that it has revoked the visas of the Chinese couple after they harassed people during a protest held by Hong Kong exiles in Taipei on China’s National Day.

The Hong Kong Outlanders group alleged that the protesters were verbally harassed and pushed around by a group of Chinese people in Taipei’s Ximending district.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which handles cross-strait affairs, said the couple engaged in “misconduct that violates the principle of reciprocal dignity”.

“The government will take immediate action against mainland Chinese who come to Taiwan for illegal behaviour such as endangering national security and social stability,” the government body said. “They will not be allowed to intrude into Taiwan.”

The National Immigration Agency (NIA) of the island said the pair had violated the Regulations Governing the Approval of Entry of People of the Mainland Area into Taiwan Area.

The Chinese nationals applied for temporary entry permits for visiting family members living in Taiwan. However, the NIA said the family they intended to visit had already returned to China in July and they were aware of it.

The Mainland Affairs Council condemned the couple for "abusing" the system.

The protest was planned for China’s National Day on Tuesday when the Chinese Communist Party marked 75^th anniversy of communist China.

Chinese president  Xi Jinping reiterated his pledge to achieve “reunification” with Taiwan on the eve of the national day.

China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own despite never having controlled it and has vowed to reunify it with the mainland, even by force if required.

As Beijing intensified its crackdown on pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong, Taiwan has become home to a large diaspora from the city since the 2019 unrest and the ensuing crackdown on political dissent.

The videos shared by Hong Kong Outlanders on Facebook showed a man attempting to take down the flag which bore the popular protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times”.

The man was filmed saying in Mandarin that he would not allow such a flag to be hoisted on the National Day of China.

“Today is the National Day of China and I would not allow such a flag here,” he said. “Taiwan and Hong Kong are parts of China!”

The police intervened and led him away as things turned heated.