TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Cabinet has announced new legislation that will impose a fine of up to a NT$10 million fine (US$325,000) on IT specialists in key technologies who visit China without permission, which went into effect on Friday (April 28).

In order to protect Taiwan's “national core technology business,” the Legislative Yuan on May 20, 2022, passed changes to Articles 9 and 91 of 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), also known as the "Cross-Strait Act." The amendments stipulate that persons involved with national core technology businesses must apply for permission from the government before traveling to China, or face fines of between NT$2 million and NT$10 million.

The amendments to the Cross-Strait Act passed in May last year had two key goals. One is to establish a review mechanism for personnel entrusted by government agencies to engage in business involving the country's core key technologies.

The other is to prevent illegal investments in Taiwan by persons posing as the head of a Chinese investment firm and thwart Chinese companies from illegally engaging in business activities in Taiwan. The regulations barring these kinds of illegal investment schemes from China went into effect on Nov. 18, 2022.

Article 9 and Article 91 of the "Cross-Strait Act" say that personnel affiliated with legal persons, organizations, or other institutions who are involved in national core technology business that are commissioned by, receive grants from, or are funded by government agencies (institutions) of a certain level, must be reviewed and approved for travel to China. Those who are involved in the said business or have resigned from their jobs in the said business whose commission, grant, or funding had completed or ended less than three years ago, must also apply for permission to visit China.

Those individuals involved in core technologies who fail to meet these requirements will be subject to the aforementioned fines.