The travel alert for China would remain “orange,” even though China has been declared a “hostile foreign force,” the Mainland Affairs Council told reporters in Taipei yesterday.
The council was asked whether there would be any change in the travel alert after President William Lai (賴清德) said Beijing’s increasing infiltration efforts against Taiwan has made it a “hostile foreign force” as defined by the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法).
“We raised the travel alert to orange, because Beijing has been attempting to destroy the Republic of China and has intimated Taiwanese by detaining and arresting them without following due process and implementing 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called ‘diehard’ Taiwanese independence activists,” Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference.
Photo: CNA
“We had already taken political factors into consideration when adjusting the travel alert, which would remain orange for now. We did not see the necessity to further raise the travel alert to red,” he said.
Some tourism operators have expressed concern that people would soon be asked to register their trips to China with the government, as stated by the president in his speech last week, saying the requirement would dampen interest in visiting China and consequently affect their business.
In response, Liang said that the registration is intended as a safety measure.
“We have been clear all along that the registration for travelers to China is not mandatory and would not be used to control their whereabouts. Rather, it is to let travelers know ways to seek assistance in emergency situations,” he said.
Liang was also asked whether the government should consider raising travel alerts to certain countries that have close relations with China and might collude with Beijing to extradite Taiwanese independence advocates to China.
He said that the council has yet to see countries extradite people to China on charges of secession.
“We have examined extradition treaties China signed with 60 countries. A person is not likely to be extradited unless their action is deemed a crime in both countries. China is perhaps one of the few countries that consider secession a crime, but we do not exclude the possibility that certain countries might be very cooperative with China on this matter. We will ask Taiwanese travelers to be particularly cautious when traveling in these countries, but so far we have not seen any such cases,” he said.
On the Ministry of Education’s suggestion that students in primary and junior-high schools avoid participating in cross-strait exchanges, Liang said that China has indeed switched its focus to influencing Taiwan’s next generation.
“From our perspective, we would not issue a comprehensive ban on cross-strait exchange activities for primary and junior-high students. However, we hope that such activities would be depoliticized and secure unanimous approval from parents’ associations, rather than an unilateral decision from the school staff and faculty,” he said.
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