Taiwan has set up emergency hotlines aimed at informing its nationals of “risks” to their “personal safety” when traveling to mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), Taiwan’s main policy body responsible for relations with mainland China and its two special administrative regions, announced on Monday that it had raised its warning to travelers to the second highest alert level. of China.
These emergency hotlines will help “respond to inquiries regarding system operation or personal safety risks associated with travel” to China, Hong Kong or Macau, the MAC said in a statement.
Although Taiwanese are not required to register their travel to China, the number who have done so this year has soared, according to figures released by the MAC. From January to October, the number of people registering to travel to mainland China increased about 14 times compared to last year, the MAC said. And registrations for Hong Kong and Macau “exceeded the total for the same period last year five times.”
Avoid any “unnecessary travel” to China
The MAC said China “continued to enact and amend national security laws, which led to numerous incidents involving the arbitrary detention, arrest and interrogation of Taiwanese nationals in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
In June, the Taiwanese government had already urged the population to avoid any “unnecessary travel” to China after the announcement a week earlier of directives by Beijing providing for the death penalty for “diehard” supporters of the independence of the ‘island.
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