There have been three more cases of detainment and one more case of disappearance involving Taiwanese in China, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said on Friday, as it urged Taiwanese to be cautious about traveling in China.
China is not safe to visit, as something could happen to a traveler and it is not clear what could be done if something happens, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-chia (羅文嘉) said in a statement.
China is not a democracy and it does not have rule of law, or clearly defined rights and procedures, making cases difficult to predict or navigate, he said.
Photo courtesy of the Straits Exchange Foundation
A Taiwanese entrepreneur and his son in Wuhan were arrested for unclear reasons, while another traveler went missing in Guangdong Province’s Zhuhai, Luo said.
Later, a Chinese prisoner called the missing traveler’s family to say the person was in jail, he said.
One Taiwanese academic went to Guangdong to teach at a university and made housing arrangements on campus, but the school abruptly tore up the contract, Luo said.
Beijing has not honored the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement (海峽兩岸共同打擊犯罪及司法互助協議) that requires local law enforcement to inform Taiwanese authorities when a Taiwanese is arrested, he said.
Chinese authorities have no right to tell Taiwanese that their country is safe for travel or business if they continue to refuse to comply with the agreement, practice transparency or abide by procedures, he said.
Beijing’s failure to abide by written agreements undermines its credibility and image in the eyes of Taiwanese, he said.
Taiwan has not reneged on its promise of having an open, constructive, healthy and equal dialogue with Beijing since President William Lai (賴清德) took office in May last year, he said.
The SEF hopes the Chinese authorities start honoring the agreements between Taiwan and China to improve cross-strait relations, Luo said.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened 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), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS