Taiwan has revoked the citizenship of three people. The Mainland Affairs Council says they were found to possess Chinese identification documents, which violates Taiwan's law governing relations with China. One of the three includes a prominent taekwondo athlete with a known pro-China stance.
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00:00Taiwan has revoked the citizenship of three people, including a high-profile Taekwondo
00:06athlete after they were found to have been holding Chinese ID cards.
00:10There has been growing concern that Beijing is issuing Chinese IDs to Taiwanese citizens
00:15as a strategy to push its claim over Taiwan.
00:18Rick Glauert joins us now from our Taipei newsroom with more.
00:22Rick, what do we know about these cases?
00:28So at least two of the three people involved in these cases were recently featured in a
00:33documentary where they were shown showing off that they had obtained Chinese identification
00:38documents.
00:39One person has been named as Li Dongxian, he's a famous Taekwondo athlete and he once
00:44won a medal for Taiwan but pulled out a Chinese flag.
00:49Another person has been named as Su She-an and the third person remains unnamed.
00:54But this documentary showcased how the Chinese Communist Party has been targeting Taiwanese
01:00citizens to get them to obtain Chinese IDs.
01:03For example, when they're visiting China they're made to fill out documents to get those IDs.
01:09But under Taiwan law, having household registration or a passport from China, which of course
01:15claims Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory, can result in having your citizenship revoked
01:21just like this.
01:23If you claim to be a Taiwanese citizen, we basically treat you as a mainlander.
01:26When you return to Taiwan, you have to apply for relevant documents from the mainland before
01:35you can enter.
01:37Of course, you won't be granted health insurance.
01:40Taiwan's mainland affairs council says that it's now investing a dozen cases like this.
01:45But by revoking the citizenship of these three people, it's sending a clear message that
01:50having Chinese identification documents will have ramifications for Taiwanese.
01:58And Rick, how big a problem is this issue for Taiwan?
02:05Well, cases like this are actually fairly rare here.
02:07There's been just over 600 in the last 10 years.
02:11But it's really hard for Taiwan authorities to investigate and find out just how big a
02:15problem this is because there is no official communication across the strait.
02:20Taiwan has no way to work with its counterparts in Beijing.
02:24But security services here have been flagging it as a danger.
02:27They said Taiwanese obtaining Chinese IDs could compromise the jurisdiction of Taiwan.
02:34For China, of course, it bolsters their claims over Taiwan if lots of people here have those
02:40Chinese identification documents and could justify more actions from Beijing.
02:46China, of course, has a whole toolkit of ways that it uses to intimidate, to pressure,
02:52to coerce Taiwan.
02:54This includes military action nearby Taiwan, cognitive warfare, economic coercion.
03:00And these tactics are constantly evolving and changing.
03:04And that's probably what we're seeing here.