Members of the I-Kuan Tao religion should refrain from traveling to China, as 16 Taiwanese, including 11 members of the Taoist faith, have been detained in China in the past few years amid Beijing’s tightening control over religious activities, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said on Friday.
Since 2019, there have been 14 cases involving 16 Taiwanese detained in China for religious reasons, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said.
Of those 16, 11 are members of the I-Kuan Tao religious group, which is rooted in Taoism, while the others were linked to religions including the Unification Church and Christianity, according to the SEF, a semi-official body responsible for managing exchanges between Taiwan and China.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
One I-Kuan Tao follower was detained in November 2019 and has since returned to Taiwan, while the other 10 have been detained since October last year, and have not yet returned, Luo said.
Among the 10 detained in the past 12 months, some were taken into custody by Chinese authorities, including three people who traveled to Guangdong Province as tourists and were arrested after a tip-off in October last year, he said.
The three people who were detained, surnamed Chou (周), Chiang (江) and Hsieh (謝), were arrested on suspicion of “organizing and practicing as members of a cult that undermines law enforcement,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement in December last year.
In June, a couple who had long conducted business in China had their properties raided and were detained in Guangdong Province, he said.
The most recent case involved a Taiwanese businessperson who was arrested in Hainan Province this month after years of doing business in China, with religious items seized, Luo said.
There might also be unreported cases, he added.
The 10 detained in the past year were simply practicing I-Kuan Tao and had not engaged in political activities, he said.
Members of I-Kuan Tao and other religions should recognize the risks of traveling to China and that there is no religious freedom under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party, he said.
I-Kuan Tao, also known as Yiguandao, can be literally translated as “The Tao that unifies all with the one,” according to the World I-Kuan Tao Headquarters.
“The basis of I-Kuan Tao is rooted in Chinese traditions, with teachings emphasizing traditional values such as family, honor, respect and moderation,” it said.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS