After she uploaded videos promoting China acquiring the island by force, a Chinese influencer living in Taiwan had to leave the country within days or face deportation, Taiwanese officials said.
The action coincides with growing doubts of Chinese influence activities on the democratic island and higher cross-strait tensions.
Revoking the influencer’s visa, Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency (NIA) said her “behaviour advocates the elimination of Taiwan’s sovereignty and is not tolerated in Taiwanese society”.
Following marriage to a Taiwanese man, the influencer—identified by authorities with her surname Liu—had moved from mainland China to Taiwan on a dependant visa.
Local media sources indicate Liu has until March 24 to depart Taiwan before she is forcibly deported.
An NIA statement on Saturday said she would not be able to seek for another dependant visa for five years.
Liu, better known on social media as Yaya in Taiwan, routinely shows her small daughter pro-Beijing commentary videos.
Liu refers to the island in the videos as “Taiwan province” and parrots China’s official view that Taiwan is “an inseparable part of China”.
China says it owns the self-governed Taiwan and has not ruled out using force over it. Still, Taiwan perceives itself as different from China.
Liu remarked in one video on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikHub, where she has 480,000 followers, “The complete unity of the motherland is a necessity, regardless of what the Taiwanese people want.”
She said, “peaceful unification is much harder than unification by force.” “It relies on the decisions taken by Taiwanese people.”
Liu commented on Douyin in February that she “would never back down” as criticism against her videos grew mounted.
Later, she claimed to be “trying to promote the good on both sides” via her films and “eliminate the chasm between people”.
“I’m just analysing objectively and sharing my own views,” she stated. “Those advocating Taiwan independence are the ones really endangering Taiwanese society.”
Leaders of Taiwan have denounced her comments; internal minister Liu Shyh-fang said that freedom of expression was “not an excuse” to demand the invasion of Taiwan.
Among 360,000 mainland Chinese spouses living in Taiwan, Liu is among those whose activities have been under more scrutiny as cross-strait tensions rise.
In a slate of measures announced last week to curb Chinese influence and infiltration on the island, Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te called for tighter control of cross-strait exchanges, which he said were seen by China as a way to “create internal divisions” in Taiwan.
