Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday.
Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程).
The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The public employees investigated were not engaged in national security-related work or classified projects deemed to be sensitive, including officials, educators, police and prosecutors, it said.
Fifty-five of them were high-ranking civil servants and 263 were low-ranking civil servants, including 165 police, the Control Yuan said.
The high number of police found to have contravened the rules showed that the National Police Agency was stricter in keeping track of misconduct among its ranks, it said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Thirty-five of the high-ranking employees were faculty members or administrators at national universities, one of whom received at the airport an explicit order forbidding them to travel to China, but boarded the plane anyway, it said.
Seven of the educators had applied for visits through proper channels, but left before permission was granted, it said.
The probe showed that the Ministry of Education had failed to provide proper guidance and supervision for its personnel or enforce the rules, the Control Yuan said.
Many of the public employees who traveled to China without authorization did not engage in national security-related work, but were in a position to compromise national interests, it said.
The National Security Bureau should work with the Executive Yuan to create strict guidelines laying out the exact rules governing travel to China by officials, it said.
Guidelines for internal security investigations should also be changed, as administrative matters do not need to follow the principle of the presumption of innocence or respect the right to silence, the Control Yuan said.
Separately, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said that 89 Taiwanese from Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month have gone missing or been detained in China.
At a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) last year increased the risk level for Taiwanese traveling to China by issuing a 22-point set of “guidelines” penalizing “Taiwanese independence separatists.”
From Jan. 1 last year to last month, 102 cases had been reported in which Taiwanese were interrogated, detained or unlawfully held while traveling in China, Chiu said.
Eighty-nine of them went missing and had their personal freedoms restricted, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said.
The government would continue to publish information and reminders on the risks of traveling to China on its Web site and social media, and at news conferences, he said.
Although people are free to travel, members of the public are encouraged to register on the council’s online platform before traveling to China, Hong Kong or Macau, so that the government can provide immediate assistance if something happens, Chiu said.
A total of 86,387 people registered on the platform from January 2023 to the end of last month, he said.
The government will also continue to promote courses on China to ensure that students have an in-depth understanding of cross-strait relations, as the CCP has been targeting young people in its “united front” work in Taiwan, he said.
Students should also understand the risks associated with studying in China, he added.
Additional reporting by CNA
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