Taiwan FM warns China will mandate digital biometric data storage for entry; urges caution.

Secretary-General of the National Security Council Joseph Wu issued a strong warning today regarding China's new entry and exit management regulations, which are officially set to take effect on September 15 of this year. The new rules not only mandatorily require inbound personnel to provide and retain personal digital biometric data, but also come with numerous ambiguous clauses characterized by arbitrary expansions of power and a lack of clear legal standards. With the implementation of this latest administrative measure, it intertwines with a series of national security and anti-espionage laws and regulations that China has recently passed through intensive legislative revisions and successive enactments, effectively equipping the Beijing authorities with even more stringent legal tools for cross-border control and transnational repression. Facing such a severe and opaque legal environment, Wu specifically urged all Taiwanese citizens planning to travel to mainland China to "truly think twice" before departure and not to underestimate the potential personal safety risks.

Examining the core content of these new regulations set to take effect in mid-September, the most controversial aspect lies in the substantial expansion of authority to collect personal privacy and digital footprints. According to the grasp and analysis of national security units, Chinese relevant departments have, through the amendment of administrative regulations, essentially obtained the legal basis to forcibly acquire the digital data of inbound travelers. This means that travelers' mobile communication devices, digital footprints, and various biometric information are highly likely to be comprehensively scanned and backed up the moment they enter the country. Under a system lacking independent judicial review and clear personal data protection mechanisms, this vast amount of digitally collected data not only constantly faces the risk of being unlimitly accessed by the state apparatus, but may also become an important basis for fabricating charges or conducting political censorship in the future, creating an invisible psychological oppression for any visiting foreign personnel.

It is worth noting that these new entry and exit regulations are not isolated administrative measures, but rather part of China's ongoing tightening of social control and deepening of fascist governance in recent years. Looking back over the past period, the Beijing authorities have successively introduced multiple foreign-related and national security-related laws, including the newly revised Anti-Espionage Law and State Secrets Law. The common characteristics of these new laws are the extreme ambiguity of their constituent elements, the excessive concentration of law enforcement discretion in administrative and intelligence agencies, and the adoption of boundless, expansive interpretations regarding the definitions of "espionage activities" or "endangering national security." When the latest entry and exit management methods are intertwined with these harsh penalties and national security regulations, they form an airtight legal net. Anyone who has engaged in specific expressions, academic exchanges, or commercial activities within the territory may at any time be detained, subjected to exit bans, or even imprisoned long-term by law enforcement authorities on the grounds of "endangering national security."

Approaching the issue from the perspective of geopolitics and international human rights, Joseph Wu specifically pointed out that these new regulations essentially act as a new legal tool for "transnational repression." Transnational repression refers to authoritarian states using legal warfare, digital surveillance, and long-arm jurisdiction to extend their domestic high-pressure rule overseas, thereby suppressing dissidents, deterring criticism, and controlling the freedom of speech of overseas diaspora and citizens of friendly nations. By modifying the entry and exit procedures to legalize and normalize digital surveillance, China not only exposes foreign businesspeople, scholars, and travelers visiting the area to a high degree of uncertainty, but also effectively issues a substantive threat to all Taiwanese citizens who care about cross-strait exchanges or have a record of public statements. Such arbitrary detention and data collection packaged in legal forms have severely disrupted the normal order of international personnel exchanges.

Faced with the Chinese Communist Party authorities' continuously escalating national security high pressure and legal traps, relevant departments of the Taiwan government have repeatedly adjusted their travel and economic-trade warning signals for mainland China in recent years. The public warning issued today by National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu with the utmost solemnity is not only a specific reminder targeting the new regulations set to take effect in mid-September, but also a preventive measure taken based on a comprehensive intelligence assessment. As cross-strait political confrontation intensifies, the legal risks within China have reached an unprecedented peak, and any non-essential visit may face the unexpected deprivation of freedom. Under such circumstances, the warning from high-level national security officials is by no means an overreaction, but rather a necessary early-warning action taken to safeguard the lives, property, and personal safety of Taiwanese nationals, reminding the public not to underestimate the substantial risks of traveling or engaging in economic and trade activities in China.

(Source of facts: Central News Agency)