Reports of Taiwanese going missing, being detained or interrogated, or having their personal liberties restricted in China have surged this year, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in an interview yesterday.
A total of 133 cases had been reported to the Straits Exchange Foundation or the MAC as of Aug. 31, up from 55 in the whole of last year, Chiu said.
The MAC’s latest data as of Tuesday showed that since the start of last year 61 Taiwanese had lost contact after traveling to China, while 19 had been detained or interrogated by the Chinese government.
Photo: Bloomberg
Meanwhile, 132 had been restricted in personal freedom, including 93 for being allegedly involved in fraud cases, 25 for alleged involvement in other criminal offenses, 13 for allegedly engaging in religious activities and one for alleged involvement in a national security case.
The cases can be divided into three categories: “missing,” “detained” and “interrogated, with personal liberty restricted” by the Chinese Communist Party, especially through the use of Chinese criminal law, he said.
The number of cases has increased by about 20 each month since last year, he said.
A travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau was upgraded to “orange” in June last year, Chiu said, urging Taiwanese to carefully evaluate trips there and register their itineraries on the council’s online platform, which was launched in April.
Asked when tourism from China to Taiwan would resume, Chiu said that the MAC aims to restore cross-strait tourism after a five-year halt.
Authorities on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should communicate on tourism safety issues, he said.
China should restart talks on travel safety, quality, stability and fairness through the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association and the Association for Tourism Exchange Across the Taiwan Straits, he added.
The associations were established by Taipei and Beijing respectively to facilitate tourism coordination.
Additional reporting by CNA and Shelley Shan
This story has been amended since it was first published.
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