Taiwanese Publisher Jailed in China for Inciting Separatism

Taiwanese editor Li Yanhe was jailed in China for inciting separatism, raising concerns over censorship and freedom of speech in Chinese-language publishing.

on Mar 27, 2025

The editor-in-chief of a Taiwanese publisher was imprisoned for three years in China for inciting separatism, sparking alarm about censorship and freedom of speech.

The editor-in-chief of a Taiwanese publishing house was handed a three-year jail term after being convicted of inciting separatism by a Chinese court, a Chinese government spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The case was of interest regarding the threat of publishing critical books about the Chinese government and system, even beyond mainland China.

Li Yanhe is a Chinese national who has been residing in Taiwan, Taiwanese media have reported. He was arrested two years ago on a visit to China, and Taiwanese media reported last week that he had been tried and sentenced by a Shanghai court, but provided no information.

The editor was also fined 50,000 yuan ($6,900) along with the three-year sentence, Chen Binhua, a spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, told a biweekly news conference on Taiwan affairs. Li pleaded guilty and did not appeal, he added.

Taiwan and China separated in 1949 amid the civil war that installed the Communist Party in Beijing. Taiwan is claimed by the Chinese government as its territory and asserts that the island has to fall under its jurisdiction in the future. It is opposed to what it perceives as separatist moves on the island, which is autonomous but has not issued formal independence.

Chinese officials have not commented on what Li did to face charges of inciting separatism. Gusa Publishing, where Li was employed, has put out books about subjects that are normally censored in China. The site of the company contains books concerning corruption and Chinese authoritarian rule and about the military's violent 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Taiwanese officials stated last week that Li's detention was to "suppress Taiwan's publishing, academic and cultural industries and try to create a chilling effect," as reported by Taiwan's government-owned Central News Agency.

Gusa Publishing, in a Facebook statement, stated all of Li's coworkers were "angry and upset," and couldn't fathom why Li, whom it called "just a publisher," would be accused of inciting separatism.

People in the Chinese-language publishing world expressed concern about the fallout from the case. Yu Miao, the owner of a Chinese bookstore in Washington, D.C., said it would have a negative impact on deciding which books to publish in the future.

"It demonstrates that it is not safe to print books on China anywhere including Taiwan," said Yu, who established the Washington bookstore after his previous bookstore in Shanghai was driven out of business in 2018.

In 2015, Chinese authorities removed five booksellers based in Hong Kong, one of whom was a Swedish citizen and one of whom was British. The case became emblematic of just how far China was prepared to go in cracking down on political dissent, beyond the borders of mainland China, to Hong Kong.

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