The National Immigration Agency and national security authorities have identified at least five companies that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese identification cards while traveling in China, a source said yesterday.
The issue has garnered attention in the past few months after YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯) said that there are companies in Taiwan that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese documents.
Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) last week said that three to five public relations firms in southern and northern Taiwan have allegedly assisted Taiwanese in applying for Chinese ID cards and were under investigation for potential contraventions of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例).
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The source said that two of the companies are in Taiwan, one of which is a travel agency in Tainan that touts a three-day itinerary that includes opening a bank account in Xiamen, China.
The other company is in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋), the main business of which is real-estate transactions, auto sales and online advertising, but it also touts easy application services for Chinese ID cards during a two-night-and-three-day trip, they said.
The other three identified companies are in China’s Fujian Province, they said.
One of them is Fujian Fa-cai Information Technology Ltd (福建省發財信息科技), which advertises online large loans of millions of yuan with “extremely low interest rates” from Chinese banks to incentivize Taiwanese to apply for Chinese ID cards, the source said.
Another is a public relations firm in Xiamen that posts on social media about helping Taiwanese obtain Chinese ID cards, they said.
The third company was founded by Taiwanese in the Zhangzhou Taiwanese Investment Zone.
It aims to attract young Taiwanese to apply for Chinese ID cards, with two men, Lin Chin-cheng (林金城) and Su Shih-en (蘇士恩), allegedly involved, the source said.
The Ministry of the Interior revoked Su’s citizenship last month after he displayed his Chinese ID card in one of Pa Chiung’s videos on Beijing’s “united front” tactics.
“Assisting others in applying for Chinese ID cards is illegal,” an official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
While domestic travel agencies can help apply for Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證), they may not assist with applications for illegal documents such as Chinese permanent residence cards or Chinese ID cards, they said.
People involved in such businesses without permission from the government or who are involved in collaborating with Chinese authorities face a fine of NT$100,000 to NT$500,000 under the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, the official said.
Hung Chin-fu (洪敬富), a professor of political science at National Cheng Kung University, said that Beijing has become more flexible in its “united front” efforts by allowing Taiwanese to apply for Chinese ID cards without submitting their Taiwanese identity documents, with the goal of undermining Taiwan’s sovereignty.
If more Taiwanese obtain Chinese ID cards, China could propagate the idea that they are the same country in the international community, he said.
That could cause serious problems, and the government should step up investigations of Chinese ID outfits and penalize those who work in the field, Hung said.
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