TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) said Wednesday (Sept. 11) that an email inbox set up to receive tips about Taiwan independence has received a practical response from “people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.”

Speaking at a regular press conference, TAO Spokesperson Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the response reflects the “common aspirations” of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, per Reuters. "We will carefully verify and screen the clues we receive," he said.

"We will never let a single Taiwan independence element off the hook, but we will never wrongly accuse good people either," Chen claimed.

The Cabinet warned against travel to China in June after new guidelines were announced by Beijing that would allow the death penalty to be imposed on “Taiwan independence die-hards.” In response to questions on Wednesday, Chen said these measures only target a very small minority.

Chen did not directly respond to questions about Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s (賴清德) first 100 days in office at the press conference. "Taiwan independence is a scourge, a dead end, it won't come to pass," he said when asked about the subject.

Lai has previously denied the pro-independence label, and in 2023 said he would not formally declare independence. Lai has repeated that he hopes to maintain the cross-strait status quo and preserve Taiwan’s sovereignty.