The government is considering requiring legislators and elected officials to obtain prior approval before traveling to China to prevent Chinese infiltration, an official familiar with national security said yesterday.
President William Lai (賴清德) in March announced 17 measures to counter China’s growing infiltration efforts, including requiring all civil servants to make trips to China more transparent so they can be held publicly accountable.
The official said that the government is considering amending the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) to require all civil servants to follow strict regulations before traveling to China.
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This includes all levels of public servants, including military personnel, government employees, elected officials, legislators and borough wardens, they said.
As these people exercise public authority, they are prime targets of Chinese infiltration, and their trips to China should be open and transparent, they said.
“The Legislative Yuan is a national security loophole,” they said, adding that legislators have access to sensitive national information, but are not required to apply for approval before traveling to China.
In addition, the Legislative Yuan does not report which of its members have access to classified information, while all other government agencies do, they said.
This process would be legally systematized, with some officials requiring joint review and approval for their trips, while others would be required to publicly disclose their itineraries, the official said.
“Grassroots civil servants would not be required to obtain permission to travel to China, but would have to publicly disclose their travel,” they said.
Although grassroots public officials such as borough wardens do not have access to classified information, they could still be targets of Chinese infiltration, they said.
Those working in government agencies with access to classified information would be subject to stricter regulations, they said.
A complete set of supporting measures would be implemented once the law is revised, they added.
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