In hopes of curbing infiltration by the mainland, the Republic of China government has started to revoke the citizenship of Taiwanese who seem to manifest dual or split loyalty. Chiu Chui-cheng (shown above), head of the Mainland Affairs Council, announced that “Around fifty household revocation notices have been sent to local offices” recently (South China Morning Post, November 5, 2025).
The action was essential to safeguard security amid deepening cross-strait tensions, according to the island’s government.
Critics, however, said the measure was part of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s broader push to discourage identification with the mainland and weaken the historical links between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait….
The move comes as Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te’s administration steps up efforts to counter what it calls Beijing’s growing infiltration and “united front” or influence operations—part of a broader package of 17 security strategies announced in March in response to rising mainland pressure.
Since then, the island’s interior ministry and immigration agency have stepped up checks on Taiwanese found to have registered as mainland residents or obtained mainland Chinese passports or identity cards….
In a separate case, a mainland Chinese spouse who had worked at a Taiwanese hi-tech firm lost her permanent residency and household registration for allegedly advocating “forceful reunification” by the mainland and for reporting colleagues to Beijing because they supported Taiwan independence.
Taiwanese people don’t lose their citizenship instantly when questions are raised about their connections to the People’s Republic of China. Nor are they necessarily out in the cold forever if Taipei cancels their citizenship because of PRC passports or household registrations. They can regain citizenship by showing that they’ve renounced the registration and cancelled the ID or passport, if they obtained one.
Sounding like propagandists for Beijing, some Kuomintang lawmakers criticize the policy—established by an Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area—for taking “another step towards so-called independence [that] will threaten cross-strait peace,” as KMT legislator Lai Shyh-bao puts.
One might criticize the policy on other grounds. But here Lai Shyh-bao is echoing two well-worn CCP lies: that the Republic of China is something other than an independent country and that it’s the ROC which is the threat to “cross-strait peace” and not the bellowing and invasion-practicing country across the Strait. We must remember that repeating a proposition one trillion times does not by itself establish its truth.
