Police in Fujian province, China – the province closest to the nation of Taiwan – announced recently that it would offer bounties for information leading to the arrests of Taiwanese YouTuber Wen Tzu-yu, known as Pa Chiung, and rapper Chen Po-yuan, known as “Minnan Wolf.”
The two men face spurious charges of spreading “rhetoric advocating for resisting the Chinese mainland” and other “separatist acts.” Chinese law enforcement authorities disparaged the content creators, who have grown in online influence in Taiwan calling for opposition to communist influence, as “hitmen and accomplices of Taiwanese independence who exercise a malign influence.”
The Chinese state newspaper China Daily, in reporting on the bounty on Thursday, did not offer any accusations of actual crimes by the men involved, only accusations of “splitting the country and inciting national division.”
Chen Binhua, a spokesman for China’s “Taiwan Affairs Office,” similarly condemned the men as “malcontents… who must be severely punished to achieve the nation’s unification and rejuvenation.”
China falsely claims that Taiwan, a sovereign country that operates entirely independently from the Chinese Communist Party, is a “province” of China and that anyone who acknowledges the reality of Taiwan’s national status is a dangerous “separatist.” The escalation of criminal charges against foreigners for supporting their own countries follows a wave of growing violent rhetoric out of Beijing, including most alarmingly a Chinese consul-general in Japan threatening to behead Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae in a social media post.
Pa and Chen have long attracted the condemnation of Beijing for publishing content online against Chinese influence in Taiwan, including organizing protests against other influencers who have called for a Chinese takeover of the island nation. According to China Daily, police in China announced that “individuals providing relevant information that assists in the apprehension of the suspects could receive a reward ranging from 50,000 to 250,000 yuan ($6,880 to $34,400).”
China Daily noted that, while these were the most high-profile bounties Beijing is offering, Fujian province similarly issued another call in October for “clues on illegal activities of 18 core members of Taiwan military’s ‘psychological warfare unit,’” referring to the “illegal activities” as “disinformation” and “propaganda.” As one of the world’s most repressive regimes, China does not respect the right to freedom of expression of its citizens in any way and regularly imprisons and otherwise disappears individuals who express opinions diverging from the Communist Party’s stances.
Chen, the rapper known as “Minnan Wolf,” rose to prominent in Taiwan as a pro-communist influencer, sharing content calling for China to seize the nation of Taiwan. Previously disguised as a “little pink,” an online personality sharing Chinese communist propaganda, he made an abrupt turn against the regime and began exposing how the Chinese government pays and otherwise encourages “little pinks” to flood Taiwanese social media with communist content.
In December, Chen released a video alongside Pa Chieng in which the two exposed the activities of China’s United Front Work Department, the Communist Party office responsible for spreading communist propaganda around the world, to foster pro-Beijing sentiment. The two accused the United Front Work Department of paying influencers and encouraging pro-Beijing Taiwanese who had moved to China to return and infiltrate Taiwan’s political parties.
Chen has also continued releasing rap music, typically themed around opposing the influence of the Chinese Communist Party. One recent song featured the lyrics, “overthrowing the authoritarian dictatorship requires the use of force” and “I want to overthrow overthrow overthrow communism … I want to counterattack the mainland.”
Chen appears in the music video rapping alongside Winnie the Pooh, who has become an avatar for genocidal communist dictator Xi Jinping after Chinese dissidents online began using the bear to mock Xi’s portly physique.
Pa and Chen further infuriated the Chinese government in March by organizing protests supporting the deportation of three Chinese women who had become prominent online influencers sharing propaganda in favor of Chinese marrying Taiwanese men and undermining the Taiwanese government on the island. The Taiwanese government ordered the deportation of Liu Zhenya, Xiao Wei, and En Qi in March in response to their pro-communist social media profiles. Liu, the most popular one, known as “Yaya in Taiwan,” openly advocated for “reunification” and attempted to hold a press conference to defend herself – which Pa, Chen, and over 100 others attended to demand her removal from the country. The protesters held signs reading “If your motherland is so great, go back!” and “Freedom of expression is not calling for an invasion.”
Following the announcement of the bounty, Chen jokingly attempted to turn himself in to police in Taichung City, where none of his actions constitute a crime. Police did not respond to his demands to be taken into custody, leaving Chen asking, “why won’t Taiwan’s police arrest me?”
The Taiwanese government has condemned the bounty and calls for arrest. A spokesperson for Taiwan’s Executive Yuan, Michelle Lee, condemned Chinese “barbarism” but assured citizens that the likelihood of any third party nation extraditing the two men on charges of expressing opinions contrary to Beijing was low, as their words are not considered crimes in most nations that share extradition agreements with China.
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