Yang Zhiyuan (杨智渊)
Born: January 21, 1990, Taichung, Taiwan
Status: Currently imprisoned (in-custody listing, August 31, 2026)
Sentence: 9 years’ imprisonment, 3 years’ deprivation of political rights
Charge (PRC judicial act): 分裂国家罪 — splitting the state
Court: Wenzhou Intermediate People’s Court, Zhejiang Province
Detained since: August 3, 2022
Yang Zhiyuan (杨智渊) is a Taiwan activist serving a nine-year prison sentence in mainland China. Born in Taichung in 1990, he was active in Taiwan’s civic movements from his school years, took part in the 2008 Wild Strawberry movement, and later co-founded the Taiwan National Party (台灣民族黨) in 2011, serving as its vice-chairman in 2019. In 2020 he stood as a legislative candidate for the One Side One Country Action Party (一邊一國行動黨) in New Taipei’s 9th district and was not elected.
Detention and sentencing
On January 9, 2022, Yang traveled to Xiamen, Fujian. On August 3, 2022, he was detained in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, by the Wenzhou municipal state-security bureau on suspicion of crimes of splitting the state and inciting splitting the state. On August 5 his coercive measure was changed to residential surveillance at a designated location, with his family notified the same day, according to mainland state television. The case was transferred to the Wenzhou procuratorate for prosecution review on April 25, 2023, and his arrest was approved.
On August 26, 2024, the Wenzhou Intermediate People’s Court convicted Yang of splitting the state and sentenced him to nine years’ imprisonment with three years’ deprivation of political rights. He was listed among in-custody prisoners in the Rights Defense Network’s August 31, 2026 monthly report of mainland political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, in the nine-year sentence group. His place of detention has not been publicly confirmed.
Reactions
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council held a press conference on September 16, 2022 in support of Yang, stating that he should be innocent and calling on the mainland authorities to release him and allow his return to Taiwan. The mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office stated that state-security organs had taken lawful measures against a suspect accused of “Taiwan independence” separatist activity — a characterization reported here as the mainland authorities’ stated position, not as an established fact about Yang’s beliefs. A friend of Yang’s told Taiwan media that Yang’s political views were not pro-independence, a claim reported here as attributed, not independently verified.
Sources
- Rights Defense Network (维权网), “中国大陆在押政治犯、良心犯月度报告（2026年8月31日）第131期（共1638人）” — in-custody listing, nine-year sentence group. Chinese edition · English edition
- Wikipedia, “楊智淵” — biographical record with cited primary sources (CCTV, Xinhua, Radio Free Asia, Central News Agency, Liberty Times). link
- Public Television Service (公视), “社運人士楊智淵被中方逮捕 依涉犯分裂國家罪判刑9年”. link
Editorial notes
- The charge and conviction are acts of the mainland judiciary; they are reported as such and do not constitute an endorsement of their basis.
- Yang’s current detention facility is not publicly confirmed; only his in-custody status (as of August 31, 2026) is documented.
- Attribution discipline: the mainland authorities’ characterization of Yang and his friend’s characterization of his views are reported as attributed statements, not as verified facts.
Media profile and archive
A chronological record of the reporting on this case, with source verification, is preserved in the companion media profile and archive.