Targeted actions against secessionists: China Daily editorial

That Beijing has not denied reports that it is drafting a list of those seeking the secession of Taiwan has fueled speculation that those on the list and their patrons will be held accountable under the Anti-Secession Law, the Criminal Law and the National Security Law.

The legitimacy of such a list is beyond doubt. As the country's legal system has matured, all of the three aforementioned laws have specific articles on secessionist activities.

Should the list be drawn up, it will be a warning to those pursuing the separation of the island from the motherland. Those who have been threatening the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity have been doing so with impunity for too long.

Since the Tsai Ing-wen-led Democratic Progressive Party took power on the island in 2016, the once positive momentum of cross-Straits exchanges and dialogues has been halted thanks to Tsai's refusal to acknowledge the one-China principle.

Emboldened by the anti-China policies of the US administration, the secessionists on the island have misjudged the situation, attempting to "go at full speed" toward "Taiwan independence".

Reaching out for a yard after taking an inch, the island's administration is trying to take advantage of the US administration's China containment policies to advance its secessionist cause.

Its collusion with the United States, and its efforts to amend the "Constitution" and organize a "referendum" on the island have all constituted open challenges to the Chinese mainland's bottom line of defending the country's sovereign and territorial integrity.

Once it is implemented, the secessionist list system will not only be a grave warning to the secessionists and their patrons — who will find their lives becoming different on the island and even beyond — and a deterrent to their potential followers, but also a reminder to the rest of the world to shun them.

That being said, the list will enable the mainland to make better-targeted and more focused counter-secessionist moves, which will be conducive to preventing the island's law-abiding residents from being unnecessarily punished, as well as avoiding the worst-case scenario of force being the only way to resolve the Taiwan question.

Those secessionists fancying that the Taiwan Straits is a geographical protective screen will soon find that the mainland has already developed the necessary capacity to bring them to justice even before national reunification.