Two Taiwanese Unification Church members have been arrested in China and were unable to return to Taiwan as of Friday, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said.
Following the arrest, the SEF received a request for assistance from a family member of the two people arrested, SEF Deputy Secretary-General Li Pao-wen (黎寶文) said on Friday.
Li did not provide information about their identity, when and why they were arrested, or when the request was received.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
Li’s remarks came after a Radio Taiwan International report on Feb. 28 quoted a Taiwanese man, Chang Tung-che (張棟澈), as saying that his parents, both Taiwanese, were detained for proselytizing on Jan. 12 by authorities in the Chinese city of Xiamen.
Chang’s father, Chang Pi-hsien (張丕賢), has been released on bail, while his mother, Lu Chia-chen (呂嘉珍), remains in detention, the report said.
Li said that the SEF, a semi-official organization tasked by the government to handle technical matters involving China, had sent an inquiry about the incident to its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS).
The SEF also notified other government agencies in Taiwan about the arrest, including the Ministry of Justice and the Criminal Investigation Bureau, Li said.
Engaging in “general religious exchanges” might not be an issue for Taiwanese in China, Li said.
However, “if Chinese authorities perceive it as ‘proselytizing,’ it could become more serious and pose greater risks,” he said.
The Unification Church, officially known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, is a new religious movement founded in Seoul in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon, and seeks to establish a “kingdom of heaven on earth” through the unification of humanity across racial, national and religious boundaries, the Korea Herald has said.
Nikkei Asia in 2022 estimated the church had about 3 million members worldwide.
The Chinese Communist Party is growing more wary of organized civil activities, religious groups have warned.
Three Taiwanese members of the I-Kuan Tao (一貫道) religious group were arrested in China in October last year for “organizing and practicing as members of a cult that undermines law enforcement,” the Mainland Affairs Council said.
The three I-Kuan Tao members remain in prison despite Taiwanese authorities urging China to facilitate their release over the past few months.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
A man in Tainan has been cleared on charges of public insult after giving the middle finger during a road rage incident, as judges deemed the gesture was made “briefly to express negative feelings.” In last week’s ruling at the High Court’s Tainan branch, judges acquitted a driver, surnamed Cheng (程), for an incident along Tainan’s Nanmen Road in September 2023, when Cheng had spotted a place to park his car in an adjacent lane. Cheng slowed down his vehicle to go into reverse, to back into the parking spot, but the car behind followed too closely, as its driver thought Cheng
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
RSS