TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Three Taiwanese followers of the Yiguandao (一貫道) religious movement had their freedom restricted by China in separate incidents this month, the Straits Exchange Foundation said Friday.
The latest cases occurred in the provinces of Guangdong and Fujian, the Liberty Times reported. As in previous incidents, the Chinese authorities failed to notify Taiwan and did not reveal why they had restricted their freedom of movement.
Straits Exchange Foundation Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said Yiguandao followers should not travel to China, even if they are just tourists. Since 2019, 14 out of 19 Taiwanese detained in China for religious reasons had been members of Yiguandao, he added.
Luo said Beijing was refusing to cooperate for purely political reasons. Existing cross-strait agreements were meant to make life easier for citizens from both sides, but China stopped applying them after 2016 because of successive DPP election victories, he said.
Luo also cited China’s refusal to cooperate with the repatriation of its nationals. More than 30 Chinese had been detained after entering Taiwan illegally, but after two years, China had still not accepted their return, according to Luo.
