'Not afraid': DPP lawmaker slams China over 'secession' investigation

Taipei, Oct. 28 (CNA) Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Puma Shen (沈伯洋) slammed Beijing and said Taiwanese people are "not afraid," after a Chinese public security agency announced it was investigating him for "secession."

In a Facebook post, Shen noted that he had written a post just a day earlier analyzing some of the "abnormal signals" Beijing has been sending out.

"Today, China has acted -- to deal with people who pose questions, who defend Taiwan," he wrote, adding that the move was in character for the CCP.

By having the Public Security Bureau open an investigation, Beijing's next move is likely to issue a warrant for his arrest, and then sentence him in absentia, Shen predicted.

"It doesn't matter. In any case, Taiwanese people are not afraid," he said.

Shen was responding after China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday that the Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau had opened an investigation into Shen for secession-related criminal activities, including founding Kuma Academy, a civil defense organization.

The investigation was opened under the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China and a set of 2024 judicial guidelines on how to punish "Taiwan independence separatists," the report said.

It is unclear why the investigation was opened in Chongqing.

Beijing previously sanctioned Shen in October 2024 by adding him to a list of "stubbornly pro-Taiwan independence" individuals banned from entering China and Hong Kong/Macau.

In June, Beijing banned Chinese entities from doing business with Sicuens International Co., Ltd., an auto parts company run by Shen's father.

In Taiwan, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) -- the government's top agency for cross-strait affairs -- issued a statement condemning the move, saying "communist China" has "no jurisdiction" to investigate people in Taiwan.

The recent measures against Shen and others are intended to "intimidate and divide" Taiwan internally, but they will not succeed, the MAC said.