Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Picrazy2/WikiCommons/CC BY-SA 4.0
ACCORDING TO THE Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), earlier this month, ten Taiwanese were reported missing in China the same week by family members.
Likewise, the MAC has stated that the number of Taiwanese who have disappeared in China has sharply increased in the past two years. While 55 Taiwanese were reported missing in 2024, this increased to 221 last year. Just in 2026 alone, 109 cases have already been reported.
Of the ten Taiwanese who disappeared earlier this month, one had traveled to visit family, one for work, and four others for unknown reasons. On the other hand, according to the MAC, of the 385 disappeared Taiwanese, 30 are known to be under detention, 198 are known to have had their personal freedoms restricted, and 157 have simply vanished without contact.
It is, of course, not impossible that some of the disappeared Taiwanese experienced accidents or deliberately cut off contact with friends and family. Nevertheless, in recent memory, there have also been more cases reported of Taiwanese who have been questioned by Chinese public security officials.
The MAC publicized a case involving a Taiwanese judge who traveled to China and was questioned about his views on cross-strait relations, as well as the differences between Taiwan’s and China’s judicial systems. Chinese authorities were reportedly aware of the man’s identity.
Another case reported on by the Liberty Times involved a woman who traveled to China for business and was questioned about her husband’s occupation as a member of the Investigation Division of the Ministry of Justice. Reportedly, the woman was questioned by Chinese officials who claimed that unification between Taiwan and China would occur by next year, and that they were attempting to establish ties in preparation for political unification.
It may not be surprising, then, that the MAC has called on government workers to refrain from traveling to China for any non-essential reasons. Members of the military, police, journalists, academics, technology experts, and others are also called on to avoid travel to China. Moreover, the MAC has suggested that Chinese authorities may construe taking photos, conducting interviews, and other exchanges with Chinese nationals as implicating national security and take actions against Taiwanese on this basis using legislation such as the national security law or the recent ethnic unity law.
There have been several high-profile cases of Taiwanese nationals detained by the Chinese government in the past years. NGO worker and human rights activist Lee Ming-che, for example, was imprisoned for over five years after traveling to China, with it being thought that this was due to exchanges that Lee had with Chinese friends on Taiwan’s experience of democratization. Businessman Lee Meng-chu was imprisoned over taking photographs of Chinese military vehicles in Shenzhen, during a time when it was feared that China would use military force to repress pro-democracy protests that broke out in 2019. Publisher Li Yanhe, better known by his penname of Fucha, originally a Chinese national who naturalized to Taiwanese citizenship through marriage, was imprisoned for publishing books critical of the Chinese government. Though Li has been released from jail, he remains prevented from returning to Taiwan.
Other cases, which have been less widely reported on, actually involve Taiwanese who are members of the pan-Blue camp or the KMT. Despite having pro-unification views, this has not prevented them from falling afoul of Chinese authorities, sometimes also on national security grounds.
It is not clear as to why the number of Taiwanese imprisoned in China has sharply increased. One notes that this may occur because local authorities, responding to pressure from their higher-ups, have increasingly begun to monitor Taiwanese, resulting in greater targeting. The aim may be to have a chilling effect in Taiwan itself, as well as to project the perception that China’s political reach already extends to Taiwan.