TAIPEI (TVBS News) — With a mixture of defiance and humor, Taiwanese Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋), a member of Taiwan's parliament known for his research on disinformation, remarked Thursday (Jun 5) that he takes a certain pride in being sanctioned by the Chinese government multiple times annually. The People's Republic of China has officially designated Shen as a "stubborn Taiwan independence element" (頑固台獨分子) and extended punitive economic measures beyond the lawmaker himself to target family-connected enterprises, specifically Sicuens International Company (兆億有限公司), where Shen's father occupies a senior management position.
During a press appearance, Shen attributed the repeated sanctions to his legislative initiatives promoting Taiwan's national security framework, particularly provisions designed to establish oversight for parliamentary visits to mainland China and create legal consequences for activities linked to China's United Front Work Department, a Communist Party organization focused on influence operations abroad. The legislator observed that Taiwan's broader resistance against pressure from Beijing and its determination to preserve democratic governance appear to have triggered retaliatory measures. With evident sarcasm, Shen remarked that from China's perspective, "even breathing is considered Taiwan's independence."
The parliamentarian proceeded to outline his family's international commercial operations, which span multiple Latin American markets and include partnerships with automotive manufacturers from South Korea that source components from a diverse supply chain including Chinese-made parts, tires produced in Thailand, and engine systems from Japan. Shen contended that Beijing's punitive economic measures against his family's trading enterprise ultimately prove counterproductive to China's own economic interests. With pointed criticism, he suggested that such sanctions effectively force Chinese citizens to bear the economic consequences of their government's political vendetta against a foreign legislator.
In his concluding remarks, Shen delivered a broader indictment of what he characterized as Beijing's systematic approach to ideological control, condemning its practice of applying politically charged labels such as "stubborn Taiwan independence elements" to silence critics and its strategy of targeting not only individual dissenters but also their extended family networks. The legislator underscored the apparent contradiction in China's approach, arguing that the Communist Party leadership willingly compromises the economic opportunities of its own citizens merely to advance an ideological campaign against a democratically elected representative from Taiwan and his relatives. ◼