Gusa Press (八旗文化) editor-in-chief Li Yanhe (李延賀), known by his pen name as Fucha (富察), was sentenced to three years in a Chinese prison this Wednesday. Spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the sentencing was handed down for “inciting secession.”

Chen alleges a Shanghai court publicly pronounced a verdict in the case on February 17. However, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has rejected Beijing’s claim that Li’s sentencing was public, saying Li was in fact secretly tried by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate. 

Li originally hailed from China’s Liaoning province and relocated to Taiwan in 2009 with his Taiwanese wife. He was detained by Chinese authorities in March 2023 when he returned to Shanghai to visit relatives and cancel his Chinese household registration. The MAC has said that China is leveraging Li’s case as an example of “symbolic propaganda” and a means of intimidating Taiwan.

Through his publishing house Gusa Press, Li published a number of Chinese-language bestsellers, including books critical of the Chinese government. He was also a radio program host at Radio Taiwan International, where he offered his insights on present-day China based on its past.