Chinese unificationist has 'no plan to leave' as deportation looms

Taipei, March 24 (CNA) A Chinese social media influencer who advocated China's "military unification" of Taiwan said on Monday she has "no plan to leave" Taiwan, despite receiving a deportation notice last week requiring her to leave on Tuesday at the latest.

The woman, identified by her surname Liu (劉), called for China's annexation of Taiwan through military force on her Douyin account "Yaya in Taiwan" (亞亞在台灣), according to Taiwan's National Immigration Agency (NIA), prompting them to cancel her family-based residence certificate last week.

Liu has been a resident in Taiwan based on her marriage to a Taiwanese citizen, and has three children.

During an interview with TVBS News, a Taiwanese TV channel, she said she had not booked a flight out of the country and believed she was not at fault.

She also claimed that her earlier statements on "unification through military force" were aimed at analyzing the dangers such a move could bring.

She is in favor of "peaceful unification," not "military unification," she insisted, contradicting the findings of an investigation conducted by Taiwan's immigration authorities earlier in March.

Liu said her children would suffer "major harm" if she were to be deported.

The Taiwan International Family Association (TIFA), a New Taipei-based non-governmental organization, said in a statement Monday that Liu and her family will hold a press conference Tuesday morning outside the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), the parent agency of the NIA.

"We are saddened that the National Immigration Agency, under pressure from the public, has taken excessive action, breaking up a cross-strait family and causing irreparable harm to three young children," TIFA's statement said.

The association urged Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) to address "the abuse of power" by the NIA and revoke the deportation order.

According to the NIA, Liu must leave Taiwan before Wednesday or she will be forcefully deported.

Liu's statements on her social media account, which has nearly 400,000 followers, violated regulations governing Chinese residents living in Taiwan including the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, the NIA has said.

Liu appealed the agency's decision, but the Taipei High Administrative Court ruled on Friday that the Chinese national had engaged in "war propaganda" and rejected her petition to suspend the deportation order.

Following an appeal by Liu on Monday, the case is now pending review in the Supreme Administrative Court, though it is not clear when the court may hear the case.

The Regulations Governing the Forcible Deportation of the People of the Mainland Area and the Residents of Hong Kong and Macau provide the legal basis for the NIA to detain individuals until they have boarded a flight out of the country.