A pro-CCP blogger who sits on an influential Chinese government advisory panel called for the assassination of Taiwanese vice president William Lai, in comments expanding on his proposal to create a list of Taiwan “pro-independence” figures that pro-Beijing forces would kill after an invasion.

The blogger, Zhou Xiaoping, joined an influential government body called the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference this year. Although the body doesn’t have legislative power, it is a key conduit through which the Chinese Communist Party exercises influence over people and entities who aren’t officially in the party. The CPPCC kicked off its annual meeting, part of a high-profile political week in which China’s National People’s Congress also meets, on March 4.

Zhou had written online last weekend that he proposed a “blacklist” including people supportive of Taiwan’s independence to be top targets for assassination following a “special operation” against the country, and that the CPPCC had approved the proposal. In an interview with the state-controlled Ming Pao newspaper on Monday, Zhou elaborated, saying that Lai is an example of one such figure whose assassination would be rewarded under his proposal. He further compared the Taiwanese official to Osama Bin Laden and called on Lai’s guards to “kill him and become a national hero.”

Zhou had said in a post to Chinese social-media website Weibo on Sunday that his proposal had been approved. In his comments to Ming Pao, which is based in Hong Kong, he added that it had been approved by a “proposal review team,” receiving support from a majority of its members, and that experts were reviewing it for implementation.

Zhou claimed that the creation of such a list, and incentives for the assassination of political figures, is common practice, pointing to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an example. According to Ming Pao, he referred to Ukrainians as “Nazis,” echoing language that Moscow has used to justify the war.

Lai is a leading figure within Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party and an expected candidate for next January’s presidential election. Although pro-CCP figures call Lai a proponent of Taiwanese independence, his position is no different from the DPP’s long-held view that Taiwan is “already a sovereign and independent country” and that there’s therefore no need to declare independence, as he wrote in tweets earlier this year.

Given the CPPCC’s advisory nature, the proposal by Zhou, who rocketed to fame and favor within the party for his hard-line pro-Beijing writings, doesn’t create a new policy. But the fact that his posts on Weibo have not been censored demonstrate that there’s at least tacit approval for his threats — and his remarks loosely resemble a Chinese diplomat’s recent comments that Beijing would carry out a “reeducation” of the Taiwanese population after an invasion. Zhou’s ascension to a plum position within the party’s influence-and-governance system is itself noteworthy.