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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Agency warns of Chinese scams targeting the youth
Straits Exchange Foundation Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia gestures in an interview in Taipei. Photo: Chen Yi-ling, Taipei Times
INCREASINGLY RISKY: The number of requests for help regarding Taiwanese who vanished or were in danger rose from 588 in 2023 to 1,027 last year, the SEF said
By Chen Yu-fu and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Straits Exchange Foundation （SEF） Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia （羅文嘉） on Thursday warned about youth-targeted Chinese scams.
Luo made the comments in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times （sister paper of the Taipei Times） published yesterday.
Whether it is a job scam or an employment opportunity linked to Beijing’s “united front” efforts, both carry significant risks, Luo said.
Beijing has expanded its influence campaign targeting Taiwanese youths through tourism and cultural exchange programs, and economic incentives, he said.
Chinese organizers of the tour gorup or program typically insert “united front” activities aimed at indoctrinating participants, Luo said.
Some influence campaigns lure the youth with promises of employment, which are likely fake, as the unemployment rate for Chinese urban youths was 17.9 percent in July, he said.
Young Taiwanese who travel to China to look for work often find themselves jobless and unhoused, Luo said.
Chinese organized crime, especially scam groups posing as legitimate enterprises, is known to lure Taiwanese youths with promises of lucrative short-term work, then disappear once the victims arrive in the country, he said.
Those groups move agents to Taiwan by using Hong Kong or Macao papers, then set up shell corporations to get to potential victims, he said, adding that blood relations had also been utilized.
Additionally, Beijing’s new national security laws could be used to detain visiting Taiwanese for social media comments or being an employee of an entity that has been accused of breaching China’s technology export controls, Luo said.
About 160 Taiwanese have disappeared and more than 200 have been detained or incarcerated in China, marking increasing risks for Taiwanese traveling or working in the country, he said.
The SEF and the Mainland Affairs Council in 2023 jointly recorded 588 requests for assistance concerning Taiwanese who visited China and vanished or were in danger, he said, adding that the number surged to 1,027 last year.
Between Jan. 1, 2024, and Thursday last week, the organizations’ data showed that 462 Taiwanese had gone missing in China, including 160 who vanished without a trace, he said.
“The dangers for Taiwanese in China is on the rise, and the government has a responsibility to tell the people that we should not take these risks lightly,” Luo said. “We should not think that just because the vast majority of tourists in China were safe, we, too, would be safe.”
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
