Taiwan's religious followers warned against traveling to China amid rising detentions

Taipei, Oct. 17 (CNA) Taiwan's quasi-governmental Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) on Friday urged followers of the I-Kuan Tao religion to refrain from traveling to China, saying that 16 Taiwanese people, including 11 believers of the Taoist sect, had been detained in the mainland in recent years amid Beijing's tightening control over religious activities.

The warning was made by SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) during a regular news briefing in Taipei, where he said that from 2019 to October this year, there had been 14 cases involving 16 Taiwanese detained in China for religious reasons.

Of those 16 individuals, 11 were followers of a religious group called I-Kuan Tao, which is rooted in Taoism, while the others were linked to religions including the Unification Church and Christianity, according to SEF, a semi-official body responsible for managing cross-strait exchanges between Taiwan and China.

One I-Kuan Tao follower was detained in November 2019 and has since returned to Taiwan, while the other 10 were detained between October 2024 and October 2025 and have not yet returned, Luo said.

Among the 10 detained in the past 12 months, Luo outlined how some were taken into custody by Chinese authorities, including three elderly people who traveled to Guangdong Province as tourists and were arrested after a tip-off in October last year.

The three detainees, surnamed Chou (周), Chiang (江) and Hsieh (謝), were arrested on suspicion of "organizing and practicing as members of a cult that undermines law enforcement," China's Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement issued last December.

Luo also mentioned a June case in Guangdong involving a couple, both I-Kuan Tao followers, who had long done business in China and were raided and detained.

The most recent case, Luo said, involved a Taiwanese businessperson who was arrested in Hainan Province in October after years of doing business in China, with religious items seized.

Luo said there may be unreported cases.

He noted that the 10 individuals detained in the past year were simply practicing I-Kuan Tao and had not engaged in political activities.

He urged I-Kuan Tao and other religious believers to recognize the risks of traveling to China, saying there was no religious freedom under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

I-Kuan Tao, also known as Yiguandao, can be literally translated as "The Tao that unifies all with the one," according to the World I-Kuan Tao Headquarters (WITH).

"The basis of I-Kuan Tao is rooted in Chinese traditions, with teachings emphasizing traditional values such as family, honor, respect, and moderation," the WITH said.