Chinese Man Detained After Questioning Why People Can’t Call Taiwan A Country

An 18-year-old Chinese man named Yang has been detained by police after posting comments on Weibo social media. In one post, he asked, “What law says you can’t call Taiwan a country?”. The subject is a sensitive one for the Chinese government, who is always working hard to ensure everyone calls Taiwan a part of China. Meanwhile, those in Taiwan have been fighting to be recognized as a sovereign state.

The charged levied against Yang included “making bad comments online” and “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” according to Reuters. The man reportedly already made a confession to his crimes, and police say they had previously warned him of his online activities.

After Yang was warned the first time by police, he declared an unfair situation as he pointed out other users that also “insulted China.” This is what he had to say, according to the Daily Mail.

“Isn’t everyone supposed to be treated equally before the law? If you need to arrest so-called offenders, you need to arrest all of them! Why was I the only person arrested?”

Not much personal information has been divulged about Yang. We do know that he’s unemployed, and that’s about it. He was also living in East China when he was detained.

Police had previously warned Yang for posting "bad comments" online. https://t.co/AaOfp4QpBk

— David Paulk (@davidpaulk) August 18, 2018

In April, Taiwan made the headlines when China issued a directive to international airlines, asking them to stop referring to Taiwan as its own country. Qantas, Air France, and British Airways complied with the request. However, press secretary Sarah Sanders blasted China saying that it was “Orwellian nonsense,” detailed the Washington Examiner.

Whenever Chinese citizens protest extra loudly, it seems that they end up detained. In a separate incident, a woman named Dong Yaoquiong made a bold video that she posted to Twitter. She declared many anti-government sentiments, such as “Oppose Xi Jinping authoritarian tyranny!… I oppose Xi Jinping and his authoritarian dictatorship… Let’s see how he’s gonna deal with me.” The woman took a bucket of black ink and splashed it on a publicly displayed photo of the Chinese president, reported the Inquisitr.

Dong went missing after the video, while one post by her confirmed that police were at her door. She was reported to be locked up in a psychiatric hospital where she was receiving “treatment,” detailed Radio Free Asia. Activist Chen Siming said that “I can tell you for certain that she is an in-patient at Zhuzhou No. 3 Hospital, which is a psychiatric institution… Dong Yaoqiong’s father Dong Jianbiao has arrived in Zhuzhou, and has seen his daughter, and even had a conversation with her.” The dad also said that “his daughter is perfectly well, and is in a private room under 24-hour surveillance.” However, Dong’s family says she has no mental illness.