Morrison Lee (李孟居), who was imprisoned in China for 22 months on spying charges, arrived in Taiwan yesterday.
Lee knelt to kiss the ground twice upon his arrival at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), saying that he was overcome with joy to return after 1,475 days.
“This is the land of freedom,” he said. “I will never go to China again.”
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“I will use my experience to tell Taiwanese: If you go to China, Hong Kong or Macau, you really must be very careful,” he told reporters.
Lee was an unpaid adviser to Pingtung County’s Fangliao Township (枋寮) when he was arrested in 2019 while traveling from Hong Kong to Shenzhen for business.
He was convicted on espionage charges and handed a 22-month sentence. After completing the sentence in 2021, the Chinese government prohibited him from leaving China for two more years.
Photo courtesy of the Straits Exchange Foundation
He was allowed to leave in July, but was not allowed on a flight to Taiwan, so he flew to Japan, where he stayed until yesterday.
On Friday, Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman David Lee (李大維) said that China’s Counter-Espionage Law is not conducive to stable cross-strait exchanges.
Exchange programs and reciprocal visits have restarted with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has announced measures to open up to Chinese tourists.
“Tourism and people-to-people interactions are the best ways to bolster mutual understanding between the two sides, but China on July 1 promulgated a revised Counter-Espionage Law, which has new provisions that substantially expand the scope of activities that Chinese authorities consider espionage,” David Lee said.
Media have reported cases of Taiwanese being confined in China or facing “unfriendly treatment,” he said. “The Chinese government should know that such incidents are not conducive to cross-strait peace and stability.”
“Taiwanese should exercise caution in their speech and action while in China to avoid breaching its laws,” he added.
China is facing an economic crisis, with Chinese property developers defaulting on debts among the financial woes, while the youth unemployment rate has been climbing for six months, reaching 21.3 percent in June, David Lee said.
Beijing in July stopped releasing youth unemployment data, so the actual situation might be even worse, he said.
Separately, a national security official warned Taiwanese about traveling to Chongqing, which on Friday promulgated a Counter-Espionage Regulation.
It is the first local law that connects to the central government’s Counter-Espionage Law, giving the megacity the legislative instrument to fight spying by Chinese and foreigners, said the official, who declined to be named.
The regulations allow Chinese authorities to “make arbitrary arrests,” creating a “minefield” for Taiwanese, the official said.
The MAC last week issued a warning to Taiwanese, listing things they should refrain from saying in China, as they can be interpreted as “attempting to obtain state secrets” or “spying activities,” the official said.
The decision to stop releasing data on youth unemployment, as well as real-estate, foreign direct investment, stock market trading, COVID-19 deaths, unfavorable information about Chinese academia, and personal information about Chinese politicians are topics to avoid, the official said.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
China Airlines Ltd (CAL) yesterday morning joined SkyTeam’s Aviation Challenge for the fourth time, operating a demonstration flight for “net zero carbon emissions” from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Bangkok. The flight used sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at a ratio of up to 40 percent, the highest proportion CAL has achieved to date, the nation’s largest carrier said. Since April, SAF has become available to Taiwanese international carriers at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), Kaohsiung International Airport and Taoyuan airport. In previous challenges, CAL operated “net zero carbon emission flights” to Singapore and Japan. At a ceremony at Taoyuan airport, China Airlines chief sustainability
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
RSS