Why Taiwan is deporting Chinese influencers and “mainland wives”
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Liu Xinyue is a Chinese influencer who goes by Yaya in Taiwan. She's got more than half a million followers on Douyin, Chinese TikTok, and she made a name for herself sharing wholesome videos about her life in Taiwan with her husband and three kids. But recently, she's become known for something else. Taiwan says her posts about China pose, in quotes, a threat to society. And now she's been deported.

This is the first time that Taiwan has expelled the Chinese wife of a local resident, a so-called mainland wife, over national security concerns. And it's not the only case. Two others have also been ordered to leave and more are being investigated.

So why is Taiwan deporting Chinese influencers? And what does this say about the tense relationship between Taiwan and China? That is what we're going to get into today on What in the World from the BBC World Service. I'm Hannah Gelbart. To find out more, I'm speaking to Benny Liu, our reporter for BBC Chinese in Hong Kong. Hi, Benny. Hi, Hannah. Hi, everyone.

So Benny, before we hear more about Liu Xinyi, can you tell me a bit about Taiwan and its relationship with China? Okay, so Taiwan is an island that has for all practical purpose been independent since 1950, but which China regards as a rebel region or illegal government that must be taken back even by force if necessary.

And the tense relationship between Taiwan and China is getting more and more tense for the past 10 years. And all of that is a really useful context to understand what's been happening now with Liu Xinyi. She's a so-called mainland wife, right? She's Chinese. Her husband is from Taiwan.

Tell me a bit about her and the kind of content that she puts out. Miss Liu is one of 350,000 mainland Chinese migrant wives in Taiwan. For the past few years, she started to gain quite a bit of fans online with around half a million followers, mostly from mainland China on Douyin, which is Chinese versions of TikTok.

because she created videos discussing the relationship between Taiwan and China and focusing on China's military development such as drills around Taiwan and China's new weapons or military technology

And then she often shared comments from Chinese leader Xi Jinping about the idea that Taiwan will one day return to the so-called modern without any doubt, she said. She also expressed that Taipei should be concerned about Chinese military forces. She even stated she would be so happy to see

Chinese national flag around Taiwan tomorrow after she reporting China's drill. Basically, she is the influencer on TikTok and making military videos or political contents video and also with her daughter who is seven years old.

until recently someone reported her to the government. So the drama started. Yeah, so those were the kind of posts that got the attention of Taiwan's government. What actions has the government taken? To carry right first, she is not a passport holder of Taiwan. She's not a so-called citizen, but she holds a permanent visa.

So they revoked her visa and Ms. Liu appeared to the court, but the court, using some reasons such as her speech is spreading the idea of war, so they didn't accept her appearance, so she had to leave Taiwan in 10 days.

So she then decided to move back to China last month. But it doesn't mean she will be barred from Taiwan. After some time, she still can apply tourist or family visa to Taiwan. And then she cannot have the public medical service or she cannot work in Taiwan as she did before.

So she's been deported, separated from her seven-year-old child that you mentioned that she made some of these TikTok videos with. How has she responded to all this? Of course, she was really angry and very angry.

reactive. She rejected the accusation saying she was spreading the idea of the war. She said she used an example saying I'm just warning Taiwanese people don't trigger China and people in Taiwan should be cautious and careful.

Of course, the government didn't listen or didn't agree with what she said. They still sent her back. What were the laws that they used to deport her? So Taiwan has a law that regulates the migrants from China.

So they used regulation regarding relationship between Taiwan and mainland China this time to revoke her visa rather than claiming Miss Liu or other individuals are criminals. So Liu was the first mainland wife to be deported from Taiwan following accusations that she's a threat to national security because of her social media posts. But Benny, she isn't the only one, is she? Who else has Taiwan's government been investigating?

Yeah, they are the other two ladies who also create online content promoting the idea of war accused by the government. So they also left Taiwan last month after Miss Liu. But the government say they are still...

investigating a dozen of cases of Chinese migrants who are also making similar content, so-called spreading the idea of war, promoting or encouraging the war between Taiwan and China. I think these three people won't be the last cases. So these two other women have also been deported in similar scenarios. How have they responded to it?

One of them was quite low-key, so she laughed quietly, but the other one was really furious, and she was even yelling to the people at the airport, saying she's innocent and it's not a crime to love her country, which is China. And she accused the Taiwanese government of destroying her family, something like that.

The deportations of these women shows that Taiwan's government is really concerned about propaganda from China. Are there other examples of its worries in this area, apart from these influencers? Yeah, there are a lot. For example, you know, many celebrities from Taiwan, such as pop singers or TV stars,

They often emphasize the very big and important market in China. So they often suggesting that Taiwanese government should be cautious in its dealing with China to avoid risking their potential opportunity. Some of them even follow China's state-online campaign to claim Taiwan's part of China.

almost every few months we will see this kind of news. And also for young people, China also tries to attract young college students through various educational initiatives, including scholarships or exchange programs for free or even cheaper tuition fees. Some people claim these programs are often promoting a pro-China viewpoint.

But some people say it's just a very natural educational exchange for young students. Again, the views are quite divided in Taiwan. How have people in Taiwan reacted to the fact that these women were deported? Yeah, it's quite interesting. This time, most Taiwanese actually support the government's actions.

But of course, some argue that the Taiwanese government is using these migrants as scapegoats amid the tense relationship with Beijing. A group of scholars and organizations came out to criticize the government, calling it a witch hunt movement that goes against global human rights and humanitarian values.

Beijing, the government, is also really unhappy about this development. They have accused the Taiwanese government of being a homewrecker.

that disrupts family and labelling this action as against humanity and human rights. This is the latest step in the feud between Taiwan and China and now it's playing out in the online space on TikTok and between influencers too. Benny, thanks so much for coming on the podcast. Thank you. That's it for today's episode. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Hannah Gelbart. This is What In The World from the BBC World Service and we'll be back with another episode soon. See you then.

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