As part of President Lai Ching-te (賴清德)’s 17-point national security strategy, the Interior Ministry’s National Immigration Agency (NIA) has launched a large-scale investigation into citizens who have illegally registered household status in China, obtained Chinese ID cards, or held Chinese passports. So far, about 50 individuals have had their Taiwanese household registration revoked by the authorities.

According to the Cross-Strait Act, Taiwanese citizens are prohibited from applying for mainland Chinese household registration or passports. Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) reiterated in an interview on Tuesday that anyone found to have violated the law will have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked. He noted that in the past, the government has implemented programs requiring Chinese spouses of Taiwanese citizens to relinquish either their Chinese or Taiwanese household registration.

Asked about the case of wanted criminal Lin Chin-cheng (林金城), head of the Quanzhou Taiwan Youth Entrepreneurship Park in China, and about what percentage of people whose Taiwanese citizenship was revoked were fugitives who had fled to China, Chiu said the number was likely small. Lin, who has multiple criminal records in Taiwan and is suspected of being an intermediary for united front work, fled to China in 2020 to evade arrest; his Taiwanese household registration was canceled in March this year after it was discovered he held Chinese identification.

Chiu explained that deregistering a citizen’s household registration requires concrete evidence and a rigorous verification process confirming that the person has indeed obtained Chinese citizenship before local authorities are notified to proceed with the deregistration process.