Four more missing in China, Mainland Affairs Council says
By Chung Li-hua, Chen Yu-fu and William Hetherington / Staff reporters, with staff writer
Four more people have been reported missing in China, bringing the total number of Taiwanese who have been reported missing, detained for questioning or suspected of having their freedom of movement restricted from Jan. 1, 2024, to Friday to 453, the Mainland Affairs Council said in its weekly report issued on Saturday.
The council’s latest report showed that 172 Taiwanese have been reported missing, up from 168 the previous week, while 39 have been detained for questioning, unchanged from last week, and 242 have been held by Chinese authorities, also unchanged.
It added that it had received reports of four civil servants being questioned by Chinese authorities, including a Criminal Investigation Bureau officer, a tax official and a nurse at a Ministry of Health and Welfare hospital.
The name and logo of the Mainland Affairs Council are displayed at its headquarters in Taipei in an undated photograph.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
The nurse was questioned by Chinese state security personnel about the military hospital she had previously worked at, making it the first known case of a Taiwanese nurse being subjected to such questioning.
Asked whether any of the Taiwanese reported missing in China might have had their organs removed, a government official familiar with cross-strait affairs said that authorities “do not know.”
The missing people have not been located and no relatives have reported circumstances suggesting organ harvesting had taken place, the official added.
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office last month indicted seven people following an investigation into a suspected human trafficking ring that allegedly attempted to capture people to take to China for organ harvesting. The group allegedly recruited people with promises of high-paying jobs. Three people were deceived, but were never transported out of Taiwan.
The official said human trafficking operations could involve another layer: groups that perform organ-removal surgeries.
Medical institutions or personnel in China would have to cooperate in such procedures, the official said, adding that “there must be a supply chain in China.”
A distinction that needs to be clarified is whether these operations are being carried out deliberately by the Chinese Communist Party government or by criminal organizations, the official said.
Prosecutors should also investigate how many other crimes the group might have committed and how many Taiwanese might have been deceived and targeted for organ removal, they said.
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