TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Mainland Affairs Council said Thursday that 10 Taiwanese have gone missing while traveling in China since the end of June, with authorities using multiple channels to locate them.
MAC Deputy Head and Spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said four of the missing individuals were traveling together, one had traveled to visit family, and one had gone to China in search of employment. The reasons for the remaining four individuals’ trips were unclear, per RTI.
Liang said the four traveling together were not confirmed to be tourists or part of a religious pilgrimage. He added that the reasons for their visits were provided by families and friends when filing missing-person reports and remain unverified. At the moment, Taiwan is working to confirm whether the individuals have been detained or imprisoned by Chinese authorities.
He urged Taiwanese citizens to remain aware of potential safety risks when traveling to China. The government has already raised its travel advisory for Hong Kong and Macau to orange, advising travelers to avoid unnecessary trips. Liang also described a recent case involving a Taiwanese district court judge approached by three Chinese public security officers at a hotel in northern China.
The officers were reportedly already aware of the judge’s identity and questioned the individual to verify their information. Liang said the questioning covered the judge’s occupation, differences between Taiwan's and China's judicial systems, impressions of China, and efforts to promote cross-strait exchanges, per UDN.
Liang said Chinese state security personnel have also checked the mobile phones of Taiwanese civil servants and invited them to add contacts on WeChat for future communication. He warned that civil servants should not assume they face no risks when traveling in China simply because they do not handle classified information.
According to Liang, the targets of questioning and investigations by Chinese national security personnel have expanded beyond Taiwanese military and police personnel or individuals with access to sensitive information to include lower-level civil servants without access to classified materials.
According to the latest MAC statistics, from January 2024 through July 8, 385 Taiwanese nationals have been reported missing, detained, or suspected of having their freedom restricted in China, per LTN.
Of that total, 157 people remain missing, 30 have been detained for questioning, and 198 are suspected of being held by Chinese authorities.
