We’d think it odd if the U.S. government were suddenly requiring formal notification of any visits to Canada by U.S. elected officials and bureaucrats. The desire would be more intelligible if Canada were constantly conducting military drills off the U.S. coasts and threatening to “reunify” Canada and the United States. And if the U.S. were the much smaller country. And if a whole bunch of other counterfactual things were also true.
But we can understand why some people in the government of the Republic of China would want to know who among them is visiting the People’s Republic of China and how often. Taiwan is under enormous continuous threat from the bellicose mainland. Influence operations are one of the ways that the PRC tries to demoralize and undermine Taiwanese society (Taipei Times, December 29, 2025).
The Executive Yuan last week approved amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area that would require legislators, city and county councilors, and other elected representatives to file reports and disclose trips to China in which they met with Chinese government or Chinese Communist Party officials, or visited military sites.
The Taiwan Statebuilding Party endorses the Cabinet’s efforts to enhance transparency on these trips to protect national security [said Wang Hsing-huan (shown above), chairman of that party.]
However, with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party holding a majority in the legislature, it is not possible to pass the amendments, as the opposition has repeatedly rejected legislation related to national security, he said.
Proponents of the measure hope it will deter collusion with the CCP.
Wang’s political party is marginal but his sentiment is not: “Since President William Lai has designated China as a ‘foreign hostile force,’ our government must implement enhanced national security regulations.”
