During 2024, Shen Boyang, the Taipei mayoral candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party, was entrusted by a Taiwanese credit reporting agency to be followed by a Hong Kong citizen across the sea. Yesterday, the Beijing Inspection Bureau investigated and prosecuted four people, and issued a wanted order for Hong Kong citizens Ju Juexian and Lin Qing. Mainland Affairs Council spokesman Liang Wenjie emphasized today that Shen Boyang’s surveillance case can only be prosecuted for one year and six months under the Personal Information Law. According to relevant laws in the United States, anyone who accepts the instigation of a foreign country can be convicted and sentenced to up to 10 years. However, our country's laws do not have the concept of "individual guilt" for cross-border suppression. Future law revisions will go in this direction.
Shen Boyang was classified as a "Taiwan independence die-hard" by the Chinese Communist Party and was monitored by credit reporting agencies for one month in 2024. The Taipei District Prosecutor's Office found that four credit reporting professionals, Zheng Yongjin, Xie Yichen, Jiang Wenxin, and Hou Kaihan, were suspected of accepting 360,000 yuan from Hong Kong people Ju Juexian and Lin Qing to install micro cameras on the motorcycle opposite the gate of Shen Boyang's residence to monitor Shen, his wife and daughter 24 hours a day, and to transmit the images of entering and exiting the residence to hostile forces outside the country.
Liang Wenjie said at a regular press conference that as far as he knows, colleagues in the Mainland Affairs Council are not being followed at present, but he has been followed in the past, and the people who followed him even went to "rent a parking space in the basement of my house." Many people know this.
Liang Wenjie pointed out that most people thought it was paparazzi or reporters when they heard about the supervision committee, and took the matter very lightly. When the Shen Boyang incident first came out, many people laughed at it as self-fantasy or persecutory delusion, but these do exist.
Liang Wenjie said that, especially in the case of credit reporting agencies, there are now several cases in which they are entrusted by overseas companies for monitoring. For example, some activities of Hong Kong people in Taiwan, including the Shen Boyang case, were also entrusted by Hong Kong people to credit reporting agencies. The Criminal Bureau has held a symposium with credit reporting companies on this issue, reminding everyone to pay attention to the source of the case, the fund provider, etc. when accepting a case.
What is the direction and schedule of amending laws to counter cross-border repression? Liang Wenjie said that the Mainland Affairs Council is not the unit responsible for revising the law and can only talk about concepts. There are currently two laws, the "Anti-Infiltration Law" and the "National Security Law." The "Anti-Infiltration Law" only deals with violations of the Election and Strike Law, the Referendum Law, and the Assembly and Procession Law at the instigation of foreign forces. The "National Security Law" targets the development of organizations and leaks in Taiwan, but there are more and more cases of people being ordered by foreign forces to follow people in prison, beat people, splash paint, and throw excrement. These are not covered by the "National Security Law."
Liang Wenjie further said that according to relevant US laws, as long as you are instructed by a foreign country, you can be convicted and sentenced to up to 10 years, but our country's laws do not have this concept. For example, in the case of Akio Yaita, the prosecutor could only use the assault and organized crime regulations to prosecute for five years, and the surveillance case of Shen Boyang could only use the "Personal Data Protection Act" to prosecute for one year and six months.
Liang Wenjie mentioned that prosecutors are working hard to handle the case, but when it comes to prosecution, they will find that in the entire national legal system, there is no concept of "separate crime" for cross-border repression, so the future law revision will be in this direction. As for the specific content of the law revision, it will be handled by the competent authorities.
Liang Wenjie finally emphasized that once the draft law amendment is proposed, he hopes the Legislative Yuan will support it. Last year, the national security bill was still lying in the Legislative Yuan. He hopes that the trial can at least start and the draft cannot be buried in a pile of documents.
