Four more reported missing or detained in China: MAC

• By Chung Li-hua / Staff reporter

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Statistics released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Saturday showed the number of Taiwanese reported missing, detained for questioning or suspected of having their freedom of movement restricted in China has increased by four people in a week.

According to the council’s statistics, the number of Taiwanese who went missing, were detained for questioning, or are suspected of having personal freedom restricted while traveling to China this year, as of Friday, stood at 458, an increase of four people from the week before, which covered cases through Oct. 8.

Among them, 175 have been reported missing, up from 173 the previous week, while 41 have been detained for questioning, up from 39 the previous week, and 242 were being held by Chinese authorities, unchanged from last week, the figures showed.

A surveillance camera is silhouetted behind a Chinese national flag in Beijing in an undated photograph.

Photo: Reuters

Meanwhile, Straits Exchange Foundation Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) on Friday said Taiwanese members of the I-Kuan Tao (一貫道) religious group who have lived in China for years were detained in China each month from April to July, and none of them have been released yet.

The case in April involved a Taiwanese living in Fujian Province who held a China residence permit; the May case is a Taiwanese teacher working in Dongguan, Guangdong Province; the June case involved a Taiwanese businessperson based in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province; and the July case involves a Taiwanese who had moved to Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, after retirement, he said.

The common thread in all four cases is that the detainees are all followers of I-Kuan Tao, he added.

Previous cases of Taiwanese I-Kuan Tao followers detained in China occurred during short-term trips or cross-strait cultural exchange events, but the latest cases involved people who have lived and worked in China for an extended period of time and were detained for religious reasons, Luo said.

“It is evident that just because something was fine in past years does not mean it will be safe now or in the future,” he said, as he strongly suggested they return to Taiwan for their own safety.

As the risks have grown from just short-term travelers to long-term residents of China, he said the travel risk level for I-Kuan Tao followers traveling to China should be raised to a “red alert,” and that they should “return to Taiwan immediately.”

According to Luo, in October 2024, three Taiwanese I-Kuan Tao followers were detained in China and prosecuted under Article 300 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China, and sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to three years.

One of them is still serving their sentence, another has completed their sentence and returned to Taiwan, and the third has finished serving their sentence, but has not yet been able to return to Taiwan, he said.