Hurting the Feelings of the Barbarians

The Netherlands’ New Year greeting did not go down well in China

By Jane Li

Pastor Wang Yi and his wife, Jiang Rong, at their home in Chengdu, China, last year.

 

It was supposed to be a good wish to ring in the new year but for Chinese there were bad vibes about the message posted on a popular Chinese social network by the embassy of the Netherlands in Beijing.

The message, which emphasized the importance of human rights, contained a screenshot of the Chinese court document (link in Mandarin) that sentenced Wang Yi, a Chinese Christian pastor, to nine years in prison.

The message was posted by the embassy on its official Weibo account on New Year’s Day. 

“One of the wishes for 2020 that the Netherlands has is for all countries globally to implement the Universal Declaration of Human Rights unconditionally,” it said. 

“Today, we would like to reiterate the article 18 of the declaration: everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”

The attached screenshot was about Wang Yi,  a Christian pastor who founded Early Rain Covenant Church, one of China’s largest underground churches. 

Wang was sentenced to nine years in prison for subversion of state power and illegal business operations on Dec. 30. 

Wang, who was known for his open criticism of Chinese dictators including Xi Jinping, was detained in December 2018, along with his wife and a dozen other churchgoers and church leaders.

The post received hundreds of responses from Chinese, who accused the Netherlands embassy of interfering in another country’s domestic matters.

China’s state-owned newspaper the Global Times also weighed in.

The Netherlands embassy told Quartz that the Weibo message was in line with government policy.

 “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is one of the pillars of the international legal order. It represents the universal recognition that basic rights and fundamental freedoms are inherent to all human beings, regardless of nationality among other things. The Constitution of the Netherlands requires the government to promote the development of the international legal order,” the embassy said. 

“It is therefore not surprising that one of the Embassy’s well-wishes for the world is that all governments act in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, so that all people can enjoy the rights and freedoms to which they are entitled. The universality of human rights means that human rights are the same everywhere for everyone, and not specific to any state,” it added.

The embassy also made reference to a policy paper published last year by the Dutch government on China. 

The paper makes explicit reference to the “deteriorating” human rights situation in China and also states that “The Netherlands regularly calls China to account for this through bilateral and multilateral channels.”

China has tightened restrictions on religious freedom under Xi, initiating crackdowns on underground churches and rolling out harsher punishment for those who do not comply with regulations.

Malaysia FM: China's 'nine-dash line' claim 'ridiculous'

Foreign Minister Saifuddin says Malaysia's decision to take South China Sea claim to UN is its 'sovereign right'. 
by Ted Regencia
Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said he expects ASEAN to further debate in the coming months the need for a 'Code of Conduct' with China over the South China Sea issue

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Malaysia has hardened its diplomatic position on the disputed South China Sea, questioning China's "nine-dash line" claim over the entire sea lane that has already been previously declared with "no legal basis" by an arbitration tribunal in The Hague.
Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs Saifuddin Abdullah said late on Friday that Kuala Lumpur has the "sovereign right to claim whatever that is there that is within our waters".
"For China to claim that the whole of South China Sea belongs to China, I think that is ridiculous," Saifuddin said in response to an Al Jazeera question about Malaysia's decision last week to take its case to the United Nations.
"It is a claim that we have made, and we will defend our claim. But of course, having said that, anyone can challenge and dispute, which is not something unusual."
On December 12, Malaysia formally filed a submission seeking clarity on the limits of its continental shelf beyond the 322 kilometre (200 nautical miles) exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the disputed body of water claimed by several countries in the Southeast Asian region.
The move has angered China, which claims "historic rights" over all of South China Sea.
It has also blamed the United States for raising tensions in the area.
In response, the US Navy's Pacific Fleet commander, Admiral John Aquilino accused China of "bullying" its Southeast Asian neighbours.
Malaysia and China are both signatories to the UN Convention for the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which codifies the rights and responsibilities of independent states' use of the oceans.
Under UNCLOS, coastal states like Malaysia are entitled to an EEZ.
Beyond that waters are considered the high seas, common to all nations.
UNCLOS also defines rules in the case of overlapping EEZs.
It was on this basis that the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague rejected in 2016 China's claims to almost the entire sea, through which an estimated $3 trillion of trade pass each year.
China, however, rejects the ruling in The Hague, and since then has expanded its presence in the region, building artificial islands with runways and installing an advanced missile system.

ASEAN Code of Conduct
Beijing has insisted on the application of its "nine-dash line" demarcation, which claims that the littoral countries are only entitled to the seas and other resources nine miles from their shore.
Aside from the Philippines and Malaysia, China's claim is also being questioned by Vietnam.
Brunei and Taiwan also claim parts of the South China Sea.
Asked whether Malaysia's latest diplomatic move would strengthen the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) push for a unified "Code of Conduct" in the South China Sea, Foreign Minister Saifuddin replied, "It would be debated for sure."
It was unclear what prompted Malaysia to file a formal submission this month.
In August, Saifuddin had said that he was "very hopeful" that ASEAN and China can reach an agreement within the three-year deadline or earlier, to help ease the tensions, Bloomberg News reported him as saying.
In September, Saifuddin also met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi to set up a "bilateral consultation mechanism for maritime issues".
The agreement was dubbed "a new platform for dialogue and cooperation".
China has tried to keep discussions over the sea on a bilateral basis rather than negotiating with ASEAN as a group.
In October, Saifuddin told members of Parliament that Malaysia should be "upgraded" in order to "better manage our waters should there be a conflict between major powers in the South China Sea."
For the last 10 years, China has been Malaysia's largest trading partner.
In 2018, its trade was estimated to be at about $76.6bn, representing 16.7 percent of Malaysia's total trade, according to Malaysia's trade ministry.

Chinese Paranoia

Indonesia rejects China's claims over South China Sea
Reuters

Indonesia's Deputy Minister for Maritime Affairs Arif Havas Oegroseno points at the location of North Natuna Sea on a new map of Indonesia during talks with reporters in Jakarta, Indonesia, July 14, 2017. 

JAKARTA -- Indonesia said on Wednesday it rejected China’s claims over a disputed part of the South China Sea as “having no legal basis”, after two days earlier protesting to Beijing over the presence of a Chinese coastguard vessel in its territorial waters.
The boat trespassed into Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone off the coast of the northern islands of Natuna, leading Indonesians officials to issue a strong protest and summon the Chinese ambassador in Jakarta.
Speaking in Beijing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang had said China had sovereignty over the Spratly Islands and their waters and that both China and Indonesia have “normal” fishing activities there.
In a sharp rebuke, Indonesia’s foreign ministry called in a statement on Wednesday for China to explain the “legal basis and clear borders” regarding its claims on the exclusive economic zone, as based on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
“China’s claims to the exclusive economic zone on the grounds that its fishermen have long been active there... have no legal basis and have never been recognized by the UNCLOS 1982,” the foreign ministry said.
Jakarta also noted that the argument had been refuted during China’s legal defeat against the Philippines in 2016 over disputed South China claims at Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.
Indonesia has no claims over the Spratly Islands, which lie to the northeast of the Natuna Islands.
The foreign ministry reiterated its stance that the country is a non-claimant state in the South China Sea and that it has no overlapping jurisdiction with China.
However, Jakarta has repeatedly clashed with China over fishing rights around the Natuna Islands, detaining Chinese fishermen and expanding its military presence in the area.
China claims most of the South China Sea, an important trade route which is believed to contain large quantities of oil and natural gas.
Several Southeast Asian states dispute China’s territorial claims and are competing with China to exploit the South China Sea’s abundant hydrocarbon and fishing resources.
Beijing has raised the ante by deploying military assets on artificial islands constructed on shoals and reefs in disputed parts of the sea.
China’s embassy in Indonesia was not immediately reachable for comment.

Vox Populi

More Than a Million Hongkongers Celebrate New Year’s Day by Taking to Streets to Renew Their Demands
BY FRANK FANG

Protesters hold up placards with the words “Five Demands, Not One Less” in a march in Hong Kong on Jan. 1, 2020.

Protesters marched in downtown Hong Kong on the first day of 2020, demanding that the Hong Kong government answer their demands.
The march was abruptly called off by police at around 6 p.m. local time despite the fact that CHRF had obtained police approval to hold the march from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Wednesday.
Despite the sudden cancellation, the turnout was high; CHRF estimated that more than 1.03 million took part, according to a statement published on its Facebook page.

Tens of thousands of people take part in a peaceful march in Hong Kong on Jan. 1, 2020.

The march was organized by local pro-democracy group Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF), which has held several large-scale demonstrations since ongoing protests in Hong Kong began in June last year.
Prior to the march, a rally was held at Victoria Park where multiple activists spoke, including pro-democracy activist Ventus Lau and student activist Sunny Cheung.
Cheng called for more protests in the new year and shouted a popular protest slogan, “Heaven Will Destroy the CCP [the Chinese Communist Party],” saying that the CCP is the enemy of Hongkongers.
He also called on sanctions for all pro-Beijing companies that “turn their backs” on Hong Kong and befriend the Chinese regime.
Jimmy Sham, CHRF’s convener, while speaking to the press ahead of the march, stated that the purpose of the march was to reiterate the protesters’ longstanding five demands, which include universal suffrage and an independent inquiry into instances of police violence against protesters.
Sham also criticized the city government for suppressing Spark Alliance, a local nonprofit that raises money for legal and medical aid for arrested protesters.
On Dec. 19, the police froze Spark Alliance’s bank account, which contained roughly HK$70 million (about $9 million), alleging that three men and one woman from the group were suspected of “money laundering.”
Local teachers have also been punished for supporting the protests.
On Dec. 20, Hong Kong’s Education Secretary Kevin Yeung called on schools to suspend teachers who have been arrested for offenses relating to the protests, according to local media RTHK.
He added that 80 teachers had been arrested since June.
Sham called on protesters to join newly created pro-democracy unions in their line of work—which have set up booths along the march route—so that future strikes could be better organized.
Two protesters hold up placards demanding universal suffrage in an assembly in Victoria Park in Hong Kong on Jan. 1, 2020. 

At Victoria Park, more than a dozen protesters were seen holding U.S. flags, while many others donned oversized animal masks in the guise of popular cartoons, Pepes and Linden Pigs.
“We protest at the beginning of this year, to remind us and international friends that, let’s not forget and get used to police violence and state repression, and demonstrate our solidarity,” CHRF stated in a declaration published on its Facebook page.

March
At around 2:40 p.m. local time, protesters began marching from Victoria Park to the final destination of Chater Road in Central.
Leading the march were several local pro-democracy politicians, including Andrew Chiu and Ho Kai-ming.
Protesters could be heard shouting slogans such as “Five Demands Not One Less,” “Not Afraid of Being Oppressed, We Walk Shoulder to Shoulder,” and “Oppose Police, Join Unions.”
They also held placards with different messages, including “Keep Our Commitment, Stand As One,” “Heaven Will Destroy the CCP,” “Never Give Up, Show Justice to the World,” and “2020 Liberate Hong Kong.”
A small group of protesters holding U.S. flags sang the U.S. national anthem.
At around 4 p.m. local time, the first group of protesters arrived at the final destination.
There still remained a large number of protesters who had yet to step out of Victoria Park.
About an hour later, a clash broke out between a small group of protesters and the police at Hennessy Road in Wan Chai, located about midway between Chater Road and Victoria Park.

What exactly led to the clash remains unclear; police soon fired tear gas and pepper spray and made several arrests.
RTHK reported that the police fired pepper spray directly at one of its video journalists at the scene.
At 5:40 p.m. local time, local police issued a press release, saying that it had arrested 5 “rioters” for vandalizing a bank at the junction of Hennessy Road and Luard Road.
CHRF has since issued a statement on its Facebook, saying that the police have contacted the group and demanded that the organizer call off the assembly by 6:15 p.m. local time.
Several netizens have left messages on CHRF’s Facebook post, saying that the police had intentionally created chaos for the purpose of ending the peaceful assembly.
On the messaging app Telegram, which has been widely used by Hong Kong protesters for communications and organizing events, users suspected that the people who vandalized the bank were not protesters, but police officers themselves.
The police denied the accusation with a second press release.
At 6:46 p.m. local time, CHRF issued a statement denouncing the police’s “brutal decision” to end the march early.Protesters hold up U.S. flags in a march in Hong Kong on Jan. 1, 2020.

It pointed out that police escalated tensions at Luard Road after firing tear gas into the crowd.
It also criticized the police for “searching and provoking citizens” upon deploying riot police at metro stations near the parade route.
“On the first day of year 2020, the Police dismissed the first licensed assembly of the year with absurd excuse. Hong Kong government have shown its unwillingness to listen to the voices of the mass, infringing the right of assembly of Hong Kong citizens,” CHRF stated.
At 8 p.m. local time, Hong Kong media Apple Daily reported that police arrested over 100 people who had not yet left the parade route near the Sogo shopping mall.

Chinese Integrity: Scientist Accused of Smuggling Lab Samples

Zaosong Zheng, a cancer researcher, confessed that he had planned to take the stolen samples to China's Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital
By Ellen Barry
An entrance to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston, in 2014. Zaosong Zheng was a cancer researcher there recently.

BOSTON — Zaosong Zheng was preparing to board Hainan Airlines Flight 482, nonstop from Boston to Beijing, when customs officers pulled him aside.
Inside his checked luggage, wrapped in a plastic bag and then inserted into a sock, the officers found what they were looking for: 21 vials of brown liquid — cancer cells — that the authorities say Zheng, 29, a cancer researcher, took from a laboratory at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Under questioning, Zheng acknowledged that he had stolen eight of the samples and had replicated 11 more based on a colleague’s research. 

When he returned to China, he said, he would take the samples to Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital and turbocharge his career by publishing the results in China, under his own name.
Zheng’s arrest on Dec. 10 signified an escalation in the F.B.I.’s efforts to root out Chinese scientists who are stealing research from American laboratories. 

Federal prosecutors warn that he may be charged with transporting stolen goods or with the theft of trade secrets, a felony that brings a prison term of up to 10 years.
At a hearing on Monday, Magistrate Judge David Hennessy granted prosecutors’ wish to hold Zheng without bail, noting that the theft had the support of the Chinese government. 

Two other Chinese scientists who worked in the same lab as Zheng had successfully smuggled stolen biological material out of the country, prosecutors say.Zheng’s case is the first to unfold in the laboratories clustered around Harvard University, but it is not likely to be the last. 

Federal officials are investigating hundreds of cases involving the potential theft of intellectual property by visiting scientists, all of them Chinese nationals.Christopher Wray, director of the F.B.I., described the researchers as “nontraditional collectors” of intelligence acting at the behest of the Chinese government, part of a collective effort to “steal their way up the economic ladder at our expense.”Dr. Ross McKinney Jr., chief scientific officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges, said the actions Zheng was accused of were especially bold.
“This is one of the cases where there’s been stealing of physical material as well as the stealing of ideas,” he said. 

“It’s an escalation over most of what we’ve been seeing.”Chinese researchers make up nearly half of the work force in American research laboratories, in part because American-born scientists are drawn to the private sector and less interested in academic careers, Dr. McKinney said. 

Among the 6,000 Chinese scientists who have received grants from the National Institutes of Health, around 180 are under investigation for violation of intellectual property law, he said.

Importing Chinese spies

Harvard University had sponsored Zheng’s visa starting on Sept. 4, 2018, according to Jason A. Newton, a spokesman for the university. 

The visa support ended when Zheng lost his job at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, he said.
The hospital said in a statement that it was cooperating with the investigation. 

“Any efforts to compromise research undermine the hard work of our faculty and staff to advance patient care,” said Jennifer Kritz, the hospital’s director of communication.
A message left for Brendan O. Kelley, Zheng’s lawyer, was not returned.
Court records sketch out a cat-and-mouse game between Zheng and Kara Spice, the F.B.I. special agent assigned to the case. 

Customs and Border Protection agents had been warned that he was “a high risk for exporting biological undeclared biological material,” and inspected his luggage in the airline’s bag room.
At first, Zheng deflected their interest in the 21 vials, telling the agents that they “were not important and had nothing to do with his research.” 

Then he offered another explanation, saying that they had been given to him by a friend and that he had no plans to do anything with them.
“Zheng could not explain why he was attempting to leave the United States with the vials concealed in a sock in his checked bag,” Ms. Spice’s statement says.
Shortly thereafter, he confessed to stealing the material.
Zheng booked another flight to China the following day, but was detained by F.B.I. agents before he could board it, court documents say.
Through a Mandarin interpreter, he waived his Miranda rights and told the agents he intended to use the samples for cancer research.
At that point, he was arrested.
Agents learned more when they visited Zheng’s apartment, according to court documents.
His former roommate, a fellow medical researcher named Jialin Li, told them that Zheng had packed all his possessions in preparation for his Dec. 9 flight, suggesting that he did not intend to return to the United States.
Li also told them that two other Chinese researchers, Lei Liu and Leina Mo, who had worked in the same laboratory at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, had managed to smuggle biological material into China without getting caught, according to court documents.
Zheng’s theft “was not an isolated incident,” prosecutors stated in the motion to hold him without bail.
“Rather, it appears to have been a coordinated crime, with involvement by the Chinese government, as two other Chinese working in the same lab have also stolen biological materials and smuggled them out of the United States.”

Unequal Deal

TRUMP’S “PHASE ONE” TRADE DEAL LEAVES CHINA WITH MASSIVE ADVANTAGE
One of the key reasons Trump launched his trade war has yet to be resolved.
BY BESS LEVIN

Donald Trump denies leading a pressure campaign on Ukraine in remarks to the press outside the White House November 20.

Back in October, financial markets and other interested parties woke up to the exciting news that, according to Donald Trump, the United States had reached a “very substantial phase-one deal” with China, constituting the first step in a series of steps that would hopefully end the longtime trade war with Beijing and make the pain that American farmers, companies, consumers, and the economy at large had suffered over the last two years all worth it in the end. 

Like most Trump proclamations, though, this one turned out to be a lie. 

We knew this both in real time, as news outlets reported that China wanted another round of talks before even thinking about signing “phase one” of the trade deal and on Tuesday, it was made yet more clear when Trump again announced striking a phase one deal—more than two months after he’d already claimed one had been clinched:


Donald J. Trump
✔@realDonaldTrump
I will be signing our very large and comprehensive Phase One Trade Deal with China on January 15. The ceremony will take place at the White House. High level representatives of China will be present. At a later date I will be going to Beijing where talks will begin on Phase Two!
94.4K
3:16 PM - Dec 31, 2019


While Trump has lied about negotiating a deal with China numerous times by now—in December 2018, he bragged to reporters that he’d struck an “incredible” deal with Xi Jinping that blew up in his face less than 24 hours later; in August, a breakthrough call with China turned out to be fictional—at this point, there’s no suggestion that he is, once again, just making shit up as he goes along. That’s the good news.
The less-good news?
His big, terrific phase one deal appears to accomplish very little, and on a matter that both the president and his top advisers have said is crucial to bringing fairness to the markets, literally no progress has been made. 

Per the Washington Post:
President Trump’s trade deal with Beijing leaves untouched the marriage of business and government known as China Inc. that American executives for nearly two decades have said tilted global markets against them. 
Trump insisted for months that he wanted to resolve all outstanding trade issues with China in a single, comprehensive accord that would refashion the Chinese state’s economic role. 
As late as September, he rejected talk of a partial agreement, saying instead that he wanted “the big deal.” 
The two sides discussed industrial subsidies in the early rounds of negotiations over an agreement that exceeded 150 pages. 
But Chinese officials resisted making structural changes, and by the time officials settled this month on an 86-page partial accord, any commitments to reduce subsidies had been excised.

Chinese steel mills, solar panel manufacturers, electric battery developers, shipbuilders and oil producers all benefit from a vast web of government support. 
Officials in Beijing arm Chinese companies against their foreign rivals with discounted loans from state banks, cheap land, low-cost electric power, and cash infusions from officially approved investment funds...
China now devotes more than 3 percent of its annual output to direct and indirect business subsidies — a share of the economy that is roughly equivalent to what the United States spends on defense, according to economist Nicholas Lardy of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a nonpartisan research group.
Some of that aid is similar to programs in the United States and other advanced nations, encouraging companies to retrain workers, use less energy or otherwise support government goals. 
But much of it is divorced from any consideration of profit and loss. 
So it fuels excess production of goods like steel, which spill into global markets, depressing prices and making it hard for American companies to compete. 
Trump last year imposed tariffs on steel after the Commerce Department warned that the U.S. share of global production had fallen by nearly two-thirds since 2000, under pressure from heavily subsidized Chinese mills. 
At the same time, signs that China was lavishing state aid on efforts to supplant the United States as the global leader in advanced technology triggered Trump’s decision to launch his trade war with Beijing.
In a report published last year, Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s top trade negotiator, said that government subsidies were a major element of China’s plan to surpass the U.S on technological leadership.
China is “grossly subsidizing and taking over our markets,” he insisted to the Senate Finance Committee this summer. 
And yet!
White House officials have acknowledged that some key issues remain unresolved.
Lighthizer has said “a lot of hard things” have been left to future talks, which most analysts say will be arduous and unlikely to bear fruit before the November election.
Bargaining over industrial subsidies is expected to be particularly tough. 
Though Trump launched the trade war to get China to change practices including its numerous subsidies, the commercial conflict has only convinced Xi to accelerate efforts to become self-sufficient — no matter the cost.
In other words, one of the major reasons Trump launched his trade war has yet to be resolved, and while getting a “phase one“ deal sounds well and good, it’s not at all clear that President Art of the Deal will be able to advance to beyond that (though he’ll assuredly claim as much in an quickly debunked tweet some time soon.)

Republic of China

President Tsai Ing-wen Calls on Beijing to Treat Taiwan as a Sovereign State

By Hsia Hsiao-hwa and Chung Kuang-cheng 

President Tsai Ing-wen talks during a graduation ceremony for the Investigation Bureau agents in New Taipei City, Taiwan, December 26 , 2019. 

President Tsai Ing-wen said on Wednesday that the democratic island would only deal with China on an equal footing, and would continue to insist on its freedom, democracy and sovereignty in the face of a growing threat from Beijing.
In her 2020 New Year's Address on Jan. 1, President Tsai called on China to recognize the existence of the Republic of China, founded after the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 and relocated to Taiwan after Chiang Kai-shek lost the civil war to Mao Zedong's communists in 1949.
She said China has used diplomatic offensives, military threats, interference and infiltration to try to force the island to compromise its sovereignty.
But President Tsai said Taiwan would never agree to becoming part of the communist People's Republic of China.

"Democracy and authoritarianism cannot coexist within the same country," President Tsai said.

"Hong Kong's people have shown us that 'one country, two systems' is absolutely not viable," she said, in a reference to the separate legal framework and maintenance of traditional freedoms promised to Hong Kong ahead of the 1997 handover, a distinction that has been gradually eroding in the face of political pressure from Beijing.
"China must face the reality of the Republic of China's existence, ... respect the commitment of the 23 million people of Taiwan to freedom and democracy, and handle cross-strait differences peacefully, on a basis of equality," she said.
"We must be aware that China is infiltrating all facets of Taiwanese society to sow division," President Tsai warned. 

"We must establish democratic defense mechanisms to prevent infiltration."

She said the Anti-Infiltration Law passed by Taiwan's Legislative Yuan on Tuesday was aimed at protecting its freedom and democracy, not hampering genuine economic and cultural exchange across the Taiwan Strait.
"Taiwan's democracy and freedom cannot be undermined," President Tsai said.

China stepping up 'United Front' work
The Anti-Infiltration Law was passed following repeated warnings from Taiwan's national security agencies that China is pouring in backdoor resources and stepping up "United Front" propaganda work to boost support for the pro-China Kuomintang (KMT), or nationalist party ahead of the Jan. 11 general election.
The new law forbids any organizations or individuals sponsored by China from providing political contributions, campaigning, lobbying, or disseminating fake news meant to interfere in elections.
Lawmakers in the U.S. and Australia have enacted similar legislation to prevent foreign interference and to monitor Chinese influence.
The bill, which passed by 67 votes to zero despite opposition criticism, was fast-tracked by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) after the KMT nominated at-large candidates for the legislature with close ties to China's Communist Party, including retired Taiwan generals.
Professor Tung Li-wen of the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said President Tsai's tougher line on Beijing had come after Chinese dictator Xi Jinping's Jan. 2, 2019 speech insisting that Taiwan "unify" with China under "one country, two systems," and refusing to rule out the use of force to annex the country.
"I think President Tsai Ing-wen is very disappointed in Beijing and in Xi Jinping," Tung said.
"Back in the 2016 election, President Tsai was talking about preserving the status quo in cross-straits relations, and was hoping for dialogue with Beijing."
He said her hand had been forced by the uncompromising tone of Xi's Jan. 2 "Letter to our Taiwan Compatriots" speech.
"This made President Tsai Ing-wen feel that there was no way to back down, and that she had to state Taiwan's bottom line very clearly," Tung said.
"[Her speech] comes against this background."
President Tsai looks set to win a second term when the country goes to the polls on Jan. 11.

Media control
Prosecutors in December detained 10 people, including a former KMT staffer, on suspicion of falsifying documents to bring thousands of mainland Chinese to Taiwan, including some who were collecting intelligence.
Concerns have also been raised about Beijing's influence over Taiwanese media groups, many of which are owned by corporations with ties to China.
Support for the pro-China KMT, the party that fled to Taiwan after losing control of China in 1949 and still wants it to be part of a "unified" China some day, is at a new low ahead of next month's election.
The Global Views Research annual public opinion survey said the violent suppression of Hong Kong's anti-government protests had sparked growing fears for Taiwan's national security and democracy, although an internal power struggle in the party had contributed.
Currently, only 4.5 percent of Taiwanese support the idea of "unification" with China.
President Tsai has been a vocal supporter of Hong Kong protesters' aspirations for full democracy, and against the use of police violence and political prosecutions to target protesters, and told a recent presidential election debate that China is the biggest threat to Taiwan's way of life.
Taiwan was ruled as a Japanese colony in the 50 years prior to the end of World War II, but was handed back to the Republic of China under the KMT as part of Tokyo's post-war reparation deal.
It has never been controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, nor formed part of the People's Republic of China.
Taiwan began a transition to democracy following the death of President Chiang Ching-kuo in January 1988, starting with direct elections to the legislature in the early 1990s and culminating in the first direct election of a president, Lee Teng-hui, in 1996.