The Lai administration has signaled new efforts to curb Chinese influence in the government with a probe of civil servants and members of the military holding Chinese national IDs. Civil servants and members of the military who fail to disclose that they hold Chinese national IDs, residence permits, or household registration could lose their Taiwanese nationality.
The probe comes after new regulations were rolled out in February, requiring civil servants, public educators, and members of the military to sign pledges that they do not hold Chinese national IDs. According to Republic of China law, Taiwanese citizens face losing their Taiwanese nationality if they hold Chinese national IDs, nor can they hold Chinese household registration. Such laws predate the Lai administration but were not previously enforced.
According to sources cited by the Liberty Times, the first phase of the probe is already complete, and only found two individuals with Chinese national IDs. Most complied with the probe, while the few individuals who did not have been flagged for further investigation. The second phase of the probe will investigate teachers at the elementary to high school level and in public universities, as well as county and city-level government officials.
Of the two individuals found to have Chinese national IDs, one is a navy sailor surnamed Yang serving on a Chi Yang-class frigate in the 168th Fleet whose Chinese mother applied for a Chinese national ID without his knowledge when he was young. As this individual came forward voluntarily, he will not face legal punishment and can keep his Taiwanese citizenship. The navy still transferred Yang to a position that does not involve access to sensitive or classified information.
In another effort to curb China’s influence over Taiwan, media reports indicate the Mainland Affairs Council is considering a new reporting system for civil servants to notify authorities of travel to China. Civil servants above “Rank 11” already need approval from the Ministry of the Interior before traveling to China. Those below Rank 11 only need to apply through regular leave procedures. Currently, civil servants above Rank 11 who refuse to comply could be fined between 20,000 and 100,000 Taiwanese dollars, while civil servants involved in military matters or other sensitive information can face between NT$2 million and NT$10 million in fines.
An investigation conducted by the Control Yuan, Taiwan’s government oversight body, released earlier this month found that 318 public civil servants traveled to China illegally in the last decade, consisting of 55 senior officials and 263 junior staff. The Control Yuan report suggested that the actual number of civil servants who traveled to China could be higher.
Taiwan has long faced issues with military espionage, particularly from veterans who travel to China to meet with Chinese government officials, potentially leaking information. At the same time, punishments for such veterans have historically been light. In more recent times, under the Lai administration, there have been efforts to take away pensions or fine veterans who do this.
Given the recurrent issue of espionage, Taiwan has also seen calls to strengthen its classified information system and introduce a similar security clearance system to the United States. Such calls have been especially acute after a recent series of espionage cases involving Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) workers found to have leaked information to China, including an aide to former Foreign Minister and current National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu.
Even so, such moves have met with resistance from the Kuomintang (KMT). KMT legislators such as Weng Hsiao-ling have introduced legislation to remove punishments for activities presently classified as treasonous, such as singing the Chinese national anthem or publicly declaring loyalty to the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The issue of Taiwanese holding Chinese national IDs gained public attention after a series of viral videos by anti-CCP YouTuber Pa Chiung and former pro-CCP rapper Chen Po-yuan, who later converted to views supportive of Taiwanese sovereignty. The videos showed that it is relatively easy for Taiwanese to obtain a Chinese national ID, prompting concerns. In one of the videos, Lin Jincheng, the director of the Taiwan Youth Entrepreneurship Park in Fujian, claimed that 200,000 Taiwanese have obtained Chinese national IDs.
This contradicted official statistics from the Mainland Affairs Council, showing that 679 Taiwanese nationals have lost their household registration due to holding Chinese national IDs. By contrast, in 2018, the Chinese government released statistics showing 22,000 Taiwanese had applied for household registration in China, something that would invalidate their Taiwanese national ID.
KMT politicians denied these claims, with Kinmen legislator Chen Yu-chen suggesting in comments that Chiung and Chen had mixed other forms of ID with Chinese national IDs, while Weng Hsiao-ling argued that Taiwanese should be able to hold Chinese national IDs.
If the number of Taiwanese who hold Chinese national IDs is, in fact, in the hundreds of thousands, it is improbable that the Mainland Affairs Council would not have previously known.
Still, the YouTube videos went viral – the first in the series reached 2.4 million views in the space of a week – forcing the government to move on the matter. It was a telling example that security threats sometimes need to become a topic of immense public interest in Taiwan before action is taken. Similarly the phenomenon of lizhang, or neighborhood chiefs, taking their constituents on trips to China subsidized by the Chinese government was well known before action was finally taken on the issue in the course of the 2024 election cycle.
It’s an open question whether the Lai administration will try to require KMT politicians that may frequently travel to China to meet with Chinese government officials to provide advance notification. If so, the KMT would likely hit back. But the Lai administration may see a political opportunity to go after the KMT, particularly given backlash over past trips. In a recent example, KMT legislative caucus leader Fu Kun-chi claimed to have missed a legislative negotiating session due to illness, but it was later revealed by the KMT Legislative Yuan president that he had actually traveled to Hong Kong for an event. Fu faced further criticism after a member of his delegation was taken away by Chinese law enforcement at the airport due to past legal charges, but Fu apparently failed to notify Taiwanese authorities that this had taken place.
The Lai administration has carried out a series of moves aimed at addressing perceived security threats, but it is possible its aims are, in fact, electoral. At present, the KMT faces an unprecedented wave of recall campaigns that broke out due to anger over its actions in past months, including drastically cutting the government budget, blocking the budget, and freezing the Constitutional Court. Reminding the public of the threats that Taiwan faces may be aimed at driving up participation in recall campaigns.