China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own despite the island’s rejection, issued guidelines last year to punish “diehard” Taiwan independence activists, including with the death penalty, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction on the island.

Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to “implement” the guidelines in countries friendly to China, according to a government memo reviewed by Reuters and a senior Taiwan security official. Both cited intelligence gathered by Taipei for that assessment.