After being detained for more than eight months, Taiwanese political activist Yang Chih-yuan has been formally arrested on charges of "secession" in China. Yang, who is a democracy campaigner and pro-independence politician, was arrested by Chinese state security in Wenzhou in Zhejiang province last August, just hours after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi finished her visit to Taipei. China's Supreme People's Procuratorate announced on social media that prosecutors in Wenzhou had approved Yang's arrest on secession charges. The case was handed over to the prosecutors for "review and prosecution" after the city's state security bureau concluded its investigation. Yang's fate remained unknown for months, and Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said that they had reached out to mainland authorities about his detention but received no direct response. The council reiterated that Yang is innocent and called on the Chinese Communist Party to release him and allow him to return to Taiwan as soon as possible.
Yang has been active in Taiwan's social movements for more than a decade and once ran for a seat in Taiwan's legislature, which he did not win. In 2019, he became the vice chairman of the Taiwan National Party, a fringe political party advocating Taiwan independence, which is now defunct according to Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior. China's ruling Communist Party claims Taiwan as its own territory, despite never having controlled it, and has refused to rule out the use of force to "unify" the island with mainland China. Under the leadership of Xi Jinping, China has increased its crackdown against perceived threats from both within and outside the country, arresting Chinese and foreign nationals for endangering "national security" - a broadly and vaguely defined concept under Chinese law.
The news of Yang's formal arrest comes as concerns are growing for a Taiwan-based book publisher, Li Yanhe, who reportedly has been detained in China since March. Li, who is better known by his pen-name Fu Cha, was reportedly detained by police in Shanghai in March, shortly after he arrived in China to visit his family and deal with residency-related issues, according to Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA). The CNA reported that last week, an official with Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said Li was "safe," but declined to provide further details citing the wishes of his family. A group of 40 Taiwan and international writers, scholars and media workers have issued a joint statement calling for Li's release, according to the CNA. Li's company, Gusa Publishing, said in a statement on Facebook that it will stop commenting on the case out of respect for Li's family's positions but thanked the public for their support.