132 Taiwanese restricted in China since 2024, 70% tied to fraud: MAC

Taipei, Oct. 2 (CNA) A total of 132 Taiwanese had their freedom of movement restricted in China from Jan. 1, 2024 to Sept. 30, 2025, with more than 70 percent of the cases linked to fraud, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Thursday.

Of those restricted, 93 were involved in fraud cases, 13 engaged in religious activities, one was designated a national security case, with 25 miscellaneous incidents, MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a press briefing.

Over the same period, 61 Taiwanese "went missing" in China and 19 were held for questioning, bringing the total number of cases involving loss of contact, questioning or restrictions on freedom of movement to 212, Liang said.

An earlier MAC Facebook post showed that from Jan. 1, 2024 to the end of August, there had been 188 such cases, indicating 24 new cases were recorded in September, including 11 disappearances and 13 cases involving restrictions on freedom of movement.

According to MAC data, Taiwanese made 2.304 million trips to China from January to October 2024, for business, study and tourism.

The MAC said July 1 that Beijing's 22-point "guidelines for punishing Taiwan independence separatists" issued on June 21, 2024 posed a serious threat to the safety of Taiwanese traveling in China.

As a result, the government raised its travel advisory for China, Hong Kong and Macau to "orange," urging people to avoid non-essential travel, it added.