Beijing sanctions Taiwan tech billionaire Robert Tsao and DPP lawmaker Puma Shen

Tsao and Shen accused of supporting ‘violent pro-Taiwan independence’ activities

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UMC founder Robert Tsao has been barred from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:00pm, 14 Oct 2024

Beijing has sanctioned Taiwanese businessman Robert Tsao Hsing-cheng and Taiwanese lawmaker Puma Shen for supporting what it says are “violent” pro-Taiwan independence sentiment and activities.

Under the sanctions, Shen and Tsao, as well as their families, are barred from entering mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau. All businesses associated with them are also prohibited from for-profit activities within the mainland.

Chen Binhua, a spokesman for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), said on Monday that under the cover of educational lectures, training and family events, the “Kuma Academy”, co-founded by Shen and funded by Tsao, had “openly cultivated ‘violent Taiwan independence separatists’” and “actively engaged in separatist activities”.

“[It] is an unequivocal ‘Taiwan independence’ base,” Chen said, referring to the academy.

With support from Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and external forces, the academy had jeopardised cross-strait stability, he said.

“Shen and Tsao’s stubborn ‘Taiwan independence’ ideology, their brazen ‘independence’ statements, their malicious actions aiming for ‘independence’, and their reckless reliance on foreign powers to oppose China are blatant acts of splitting the country and inciting division,” Chen said.