Taiwanese are sometimes forced to apply for Chinese national identification documents when they cannot repay loans at pawn shops, YouTuber Wen Tzu-yu (溫子渝), who is known as Pa Chiung (八炯) online, said in a video published yesterday.
A Kaoshiung resident in the video said a pawn shop that he borrowed money from told him he could borrow money from a bank in China’s Fujian Province after he was unable to repay the loan.
However, he would have to apply for a Chinese ID, as being a citizen would give him a higher borrowing ceiling, he told Pa Chiung.
Photo: Screen grab from a video on Pa Chiung’s YouTube channel
The man, whose voice was altered and face obscured in the video, said that the pawn shop told him to record a video stating the date of the recording, that he had not been coerced, and that he had read the details of the pawn shop’s loan contract and would abide by it.
The Telegram messaging app was the favored method of communication, he said.
Pa Chiung said in the video that since April, he and his team have uncovered 10 cases of people in similar situations.
He and his team contacted some of the people who had applied for Chinese resident or ID cards and found that they had all used the same residential address: “No. 66, Tongxin Road, Jianyang District, Nanping City, Fujian Province,” which is the address of a police precinct, he said.
The scheme might involve Chinese village officials and bank employees working through Taiwanese intermediaries, he said.
However, while his team was able to expose the issue, there was no official investigation into the matter, he said.
His team would give the information it had to the authorities and hopefully those involved would be arrested so that Taiwanese would not become “fifth columnists” in a possible invasion of Taiwan, he said.
National Cheng Kung University professor Hung Ching-fu (洪敬富) said that the reports highlight concerning loopholes in Taiwan’s national security.
China’s psychological warfare against Taiwan would only grow more severe with more people holding Chinese IDs, Hung said.
China’s “united front” departments need to demonstrate to their superiors that their rhetoric is effective, he said.
By showing that there are Taiwanese applying for Chinese IDs reinforces Beijing’s arguments that “Taiwanese are thinking of their motherland,” he said, adding that Beijing would continue with such tactics.
China’s attempts to increase the number of Taiwanese with Chinese IDs, especially young people, show that it still hopes to one day have complete judicial control over Taiwan, he said.
Some pawn shops and jewelry shops in Taiwan have long operated as unregistered remittance sites for the Chinese Communist Party, he said, adding that they are a gap in national security.
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
The Taiwan Experience Education Program (TEEP) has funded short-term internships in Taiwan for more than 4,500 young people from more than 40 countries since 2015, with the goal of attracting and retaining international talent, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. Fifty-five colleges launched 514 projects this year, including in fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, medicine and biotechnology, green energy, and sustainability, it said. The program provides research and practical internships in Taiwan for two to six months, and offers cultural exchange and networking opportunities, the ministry said. For example, National Formosa University’s Embedded System and Autopilot Laboratory developed two solar-powered drones in
GLOBAL: Although Matsu has limited capacity for large numbers of domestic tourists, it would be a great high-end destination for international travelers, an official said Lienchiang County’s (Matsu) unique landscape and Cold War history give it great potential to be marketed as a destination for international travelers, Tourism Administration Director General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳玉秀) said at the weekend. Tourism officials traveled to the outlying island for the Matsu Biennial, an art festival that started on Friday to celebrate Matsu’s culture, history and landscape. Travelers to Matsu, which lies about 190km northwest of Taipei, must fly or take the state-run New Taima passenger ship. However, flights are often canceled during fog season from April to June. Chen spoke about her vision to promote Matsu as a tourist attraction in
Taipei resident Mu Chu-hua caught some glimpses of China’s mighty military parade on YouTube on Wednesday. As she watched hypersonic missiles roll down Beijing’s Changan Avenue and troops march in lockstep, she did not feel like they posed a threat to Taiwan. Mu, a 69-year-old retiree, said she saw the parade as simply a way for Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to “say thank you to the troops.” “I thought it was quite normal,” she said. “It was very cool.” China’s military parade commemorating the end of World War II was being watched internationally for insights into Beijing’s military advances and its show
RSS