Beijing accuses the group of promoting the independence of the island it claims as its own.
China has said it is blacklisting seven Taiwanese officials for their alleged support for the self-ruled island’s independence.
The group will be banned from entering mainland China and the territories of Hong Kong and Macau, and will be banned from working with Chinese officials, state news agency Xinhua said, citing a spokesman for the Labor Bureau of Taiwan of the ruling Communist Party.
Among the seven officials targeted by Beijing is Bi-khim Hsiao, Taiwan’s representative to the United States.
Xinhua said the “punitive measures” were necessary to “safeguard the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and the immediate interests of people on both sides of the strait.”
The Communist Party tabloid Global Times described them as “staunch secessionists”.
Beijing claims Taiwan as its home and has not ruled out using force to take control of the territory.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in response to the sanctions that the island was a democracy that “could not be interfered with by China.
“Furthermore, we cannot accept threats and threats from authoritarian and totalitarian systems,” ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou told reporters in Taipei, Reuters news agency reported.
Beijing has increased pressure on the island since a visit earlier this month by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, holding several days of war games on the island and withdrawing cooperation with the U.S. United in several areas, including the climate.
The military continued the drills on Monday, when a group of US lawmakers visited Taipei and were due to meet with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen.
Although it maintains diplomatic relations with Beijing, the US is Taiwan’s main defender and is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.
Taiwan says the island’s 23 million people should be the ones to decide its future.
The sanctions are unlikely to have a major impact on Taiwanese officials because they do not travel to the mainland.
