DEFENSE/China expanding 'lawfare' efforts in bid to annex Taiwan: MAC head

Taipei, Aug. 6 (CNA) Taiwan's top China affairs chief on Tuesday warned that the People's Republic of China's (PRC) ongoing expansion of legal instruments targeting Taiwan is meant to provide ground to justify the use of force against the country.

Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said that since the PRC's Anti-Secession Law took effect in 2005, China has continued to launch a series of legal wars against Taiwan, including the most recent decision in announcing a new set of legal guidelines on June 21 targeting advocates of Taiwan independence.

"These activities have violated international laws and cross-strait reality," Chiu said, adding that the PRC's laws have no jurisdiction over Taiwanese people.

The PRC's threats to use nonpeaceful means targeting so-called Taiwan independence activists will not be supported by the international community and will not improve cross-strait relations, the minister added.

Chiu made the remarks during his address at a Taipei seminar on PRC's Anti-Session Law as the set of laws is set to mark its 20th anniversary next year.

The PRC introduced the Anti-Secession Law during the former administration of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) after the latter undertook actions that Beijing viewed as provocative, such as declaring that there was one country on each side of the Taiwan Strait.

The Anti-Secession Law reiterated the core elements of Beijing's Taiwan policy and its red lines, including outlining the circumstances under which Beijing would consider employing "nonpeaceful means" to annex Taiwan.

This June, the PRC further released a set of new guidelines allowing courts in China to try "Taiwan independence separatists" in absentia.

In addition, the guidelines permit the use of the death penalty against "diehard" advocates of Taiwan independence convicted of inciting secession who also cause "grave harm to the state and the (Chinese) people," according to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency.

During Tuesday's seminar, Chen Yu-jie (陳玉潔), an assistant research professor at the Institutum Iurisprudentiae of Academia Sinica said the PRC has weaponized international law to push for unification.

However, the Anti-Secession Law and the new guidelines serve only as "cognitive warfare" as they violate several international laws, said Chen, who specializes in international law and cross-strait relations.

For instance, the Anti-Secession Law that threatens to take nonpeaceful means to unify Taiwan has violated Article 2 Section 4 of the United Nations Charter, which stipulates that "all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state," Chen said.

The threat to use violence against Taiwan also violated international human rights law, she added.

Julian Ku (古舉倫), a law professor at the New York-based Hofstra University, said that the PRC's new guidelines targeting Taiwan independence activists could affect not only Taiwanese people but also "anyone who engages in what they [the PRC] define as [support for] Taiwanese independence."

People who the PRC deems to have violated the guidelines could also face extradition to China depending on bilateral treaties, he noted.

"I think what would be useful for the Taiwan government and other governments is to make clear that such application of Chinese law to Taiwanese people and other people outside of China is improper and illegal, and that countries will not abide by a request, as such request is illegal or inconsistent with the treaty," he added.

Tuesday's seminar, "The PRC's Anti-Session Lawfare and Its Implications," was organized by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies and Taipei-based Prospect Foundation.