China for the first time on Friday said Taiwanese politicians who support the island’s independence will be made “criminally liable for life”, and will be barred from entering, or having any connection with, the mainland.

The announcement by China’s Taiwan affairs office comes in the backdrop of heightened military and diplomatic tension with self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as a breakaway region and has not ruled out using force to reunify it.

The office named Taiwan’s Premier Su Tseng-chang, parliament speaker You Si-kun and foreign minister Joseph Wu as people who are “stubbornly pro-Taiwan independence”.

The announcement also made public for the first time that Beijing has drawn up a list of people who fall in this category.

Chinese official media called them “diehard Taiwan independence separatists”.

“Those on the list, together with their relatives, shall not enter the mainland and the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, and their affiliated institutions shall be restricted from forging any cooperation with organisations and individuals on the mainland,” Taiwan affairs office spokesperson, Zhu Fenglian said on Friday.

Those on the list will be held to lifelong accountability and will be investigated for criminal liability in accordance with the law, Zhu added. “Those who betray their motherland and seek to split the country are destined to have a bad end, and are bound to be spurned by the people and judged by history,” Zhu said, referring to the three persons named.

“Taiwanese politicians partially rely on donations from companies to fund their election campaigns. Many Taiwanese companies derive profits from doing business with the mainland. Tens of thousands of Taiwanese currently work in the mainland,” a Reuters article pointed out.

In October, Chinese President Xi Jinping said China can and will be reunified, sending out a word of warning to the so-called Taiwan secessionists who “betray the motherland” but holding off on the threat to use force.

“It has never ended well for those who forget their ancestors, betray the motherland, or split the country,” Xi said at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Saturday.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) reportedly sent nearly 200 aircraft for drills near Taiwan in October.

Late October, China said it “firmly” opposes military links between Taiwan and the US after it emerged that American troops were training soldiers on the self-governed island.