Over 40 Taiwanese under investigation over Chinese ID documents

Taipei, March 20 (CNA) More than 40 Taiwanese citizens are under investigation for allegedly holding Chinese identity cards, and 14 individuals have already been notified that their Taiwanese household registrations and other documents will be revoked, according to Taiwan's Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) on Thursday.

At a press conference following a Ministry of the Interior administrative meeting in Taipei, Liu explained that Taiwanese citizens found to illegally hold Chinese identity documents will have their Taiwanese health insurance, identity cards and passports revoked.

They will "not be Taiwanese citizens," she explained.

Deputy Interior Minister Wu Tang-an (吳堂安) clarified that regulations governing household registrations mean that any Taiwanese found holding Chinese household registration shall have their Taiwanese registration canceled.

Moreover, it "won't be very easy" for them to regain household registration in Taiwan in the future, Wu added, citing regulations.

At the press conference, Liu was also asked about the case of a Taiwan-based Chinese social media influencer, known by her account name "Yaya in Taiwan" (亞亞在台灣), who was ordered to leave the country in recent days over her public statements advocating China's "military unification" of Taiwan.

The agency's recent actions had prompted Pa Chiung (八炯), a popular Youtuber who voices opposition to the Chinese Communist Party, to call for a public protest against the National Immigration Agency (NIA) over this and similar cases.

Pa Chiung had brought the issue of Taiwanese citizens illegally holding Chinese identity documents into public focus in recent weeks through videos he posted on social media.

In response, Liu stated that the NIA has followed the law and not deviated from procedural norms.

Liu also said that while online statements made by "Yaya" have been "inconsistent," the penalty against her remains unchanged.

If the Chinese national -- whose residence permit was based on her marriage to a Taiwanese citizen -- does not comply with her 10-day deportation order, then she will be forcibly removed from the country, the interior minister reiterated.