National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-Yen (蔡明彥) presented a report to the cabinet on Wednesday detailing the impact of China’s updated counter-espionage law implemented in July.
In the report, Tsai said that the number of detained nationals has increased this year, with the majority being scholars, those with connections to civic society organizations, and Chinese spouses married to Taiwanese. Nine cases were eventually repatriated back to Taiwan, but there still are 13 cases of nationals currently being detained in China.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) reminded Taiwanese travelers back in July to carefully assess the need to go to mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macao. The MAC said that with the passage of the Foreign Relations Law and Counterespionage Law in China and the National Security Law in Hong Kong, unreasonable interrogations, illegal arrests and detention are continuing to occur.