Taiwan has launched a crackdown on holders of illegal Chinese identity documents, revoking the Taiwanese status of more than 20 people and putting tens of thousands of Chinese-born residents under scrutiny.
Under Taiwan law it is illegal for Taiwanese people to hold Chinese identity documents. In the past decade, hundreds of people have had their Taiwanese papers or passports cancelled for also holding Chinese ID, effectively revoking their citizenship.
But a renewed hunt for dual ID-holders has drawn controversy after the public expulsion of three women and threats to the permanent residencies of more than 10,000 Chinese-born people, including many who had built lives and families in Taiwan over decades.
The campaign has sparked a nationwide debate about identity, loyalty and how to balance the island’s treasured political freedoms with its national security.
The current furore began in December, with an online documentary revealing local Chinese authorities were secretly offering Chinese IDs to Taiwanese people.
Taiwan’s mainland affairs council (MAC) denounced the scheme as “part of China’s evil united front work that attempts to … create an illusion that it has authority over the nation”.
The documentary identified three recipients who had moved to the Chinese province of Fujian and applied for Chinese identity cards.
Su Shih-er was one of the three. He chose the coastal province for its large Taiwanese community and generous government subsidies for entrepreneurs opening “local” businesses. Soon after arriving, Su learned he could apply for a Chinese identity card.
“I thought it’d be more convenient for my company, so I applied,” he told the Guardian.
What Su did was illegal under Taiwanese law, although he disputes this. To get his Chinese ID card, Su was legally required to have Chinese household registration (known as “hukou”), which is barred under Taiwan’s cross-strait relations act, alongside Chinese passports.
Su, who is still in China, said there are “loads” of Taiwanese with Fujian IDs, and that he felt “like a victim of their political games”.
Tensions between Taiwan and China are dangerously high. China’s Communist party (CCP) government claims Taiwan as a province and ispreparing to take it militarilyif it can’t convince or coerce it to peacefully “unify”. Espionage and infiltration by pro-CCP actors – including from Taiwan’s society, government, and military –are real and ongoing dangers.
But there are still close ties between the two territories. Figures from 2022 show about 170,000 Taiwanese living in China. About 380,000 Chinese-born people live in Taiwan, many married to Taiwanese people, and about half of them hold permanent residency.
In March Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te,announced new measuresto counter China’s malign efforts, which included increased scrutiny of cross-strait travel and resettlement.
In March, three Chinese-born women were accused of using their popular social media accounts to advocate for a hostile Chinese takeover of Taiwan. Taiwan revoked their residency visas and they were forced to leave Taiwan, as well as their Taiwanese husbands and children.
The opposition accused the government of deporting people without due process for views it didn’t like.A statementsigned by dozens of local academics said President Lai was “rapidly compressing the space for free speech”.
But government figures said the posts were essentially enemy war propaganda, exempt from free-speech protection. Premier Cho Jung-tai told reporters: “There are limits to freedom of speech, and the limits are the country’s survival.” The deportations also seemed to have social support, and at a press conference held by one of the women, a crowd chanted “go home!”.
The case highlighted “the unique dilemma of Taiwan’s existence”,wrote two local academics, Michelle Kuo and Albert Wu.
“Imagine a world where an ally of China expels a Taiwanese immigrant for advocating Taiwanese independence. We would fight to the death for that person to stay in the country,” said Wu and Kuo.
But, they added: “Taiwanisunder exceptional threat. Can we apply human rights principles around family unity and freedom of speech when facing such a massive danger?”
The Taiwan government’s next move proved even more controversial. As it became clear the number of people holding or seeking Chinese IDs waslarger than anticipated, authorities decided to sweep the island.
“If the identities of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are not clearly distinguished, it will affect the national security and social stability of our country,” it said.
In March the MAC sent questionnaires to public sector workers, university employees and military personnel, asking them if they ever held Chinese ID. The MAC described the survey as an opportunity to “demonstrate their loyalty”.
Then, earlier this month, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) began contacting more than 10,000 Chinese-born spouses in Taiwan, claiming they had never provided proof they had given up their Chinese hukuo – a requirement for permanent residency.
Social media filled with angry posts from affected people and their families, saying they felt targeted and suddenly unwelcome. Among them were people who had moved to Taiwan decades ago, before such proof was required.
Rescinding hukou can only be done in person, in China. Some commenters pointed to the case of Li Yanhe, a Chinese-born, Taiwan-basedpublisher of critical booksabout the CCP.In 2023 Li was arrested in Shanghai, reportedly there to rescind his hukou. Convicted of unspecified acts of “inciting secession”, he remains in a Chinese jail.
One woman posted to Threads a recording of a call between her mother and the NIA. Her mother told the NIA agent she had given proof to another agency when she arrived 22 years ago. But the agent said they had no record, and threatened to strip her Taiwanese rights and residency if she failed to cooperate.
“My mother has become an international football,” her daughter posted.
In another case, a woman said her mother – who had lived her for 33 years – had also received a demand for proof.
“My mother has a Taiwanese ID card, a Taiwanese passport and has paid labour insurance and health insurance and taxes for more than 30 years. She is a Taiwanese!” the woman said.
The MAC deputy head, Liang Wen-chieh, said last week they were demonstrating “utmost leniency towards such individuals”. But amid an outcry the government announced case-by-case exemptions, including for people who are elderly, haven’t returned to China in more than 10 years, or feared persecution if they did.
The new campaign has so far resulted in at least 19 people being stripped of Taiwanese papers – and citizenship if they held it – for having Chinese ID.
The NIA, told the Guardian those who cancelled their Chinese hukou could apply for permission to “restore their [Taiwan] status” and come back.
But critics worry that the crackdown is only further dividing Taiwan’s already fractious society.
“It is obvious that a negative impact is to tear Taiwan apart and push people to the opposite side, which is of no benefit to Taiwan’s security,” said Prof Liu Mei-jun, of Taiwan’s national Chengchi university.
During the furore over the deported influencers, academics Kuo and Wu warned that the government “may have inadvertently handed Beijing an easy propaganda victory”.
China’s state media has already seized on the cases, accusing Taiwan’s ruling DPP of “tearing families apart”. The Taiwan Affairs Office accused the DPP of bullying, and only applying the idea of “freedom” to those who supported Taiwan independence.
The Guardian’s conversations with people in or close to the government have revealed a perplexity over the backlash, and a belief that any concerns are outweighed by the need to address any vulnerability China could exploit.
“More than 360,000 Chinese spouses live in Taiwan today,” Kuo and Wu wrote in their essay. “While they may appear to be a demographic minority, their family networks make up a significant portion of society – one the government now risks alienating.”