Taiwan launches hotlines for China travel 'safety risks'

Taiwan has launched hotlines for travellers seeking information about their "safety risks" while in China, which recently published tough criminal sentencing guidelines for supporters of the island's independence.

The enhanced "emergency assistance services" aim to help address "personal safety risks associated with travelling" to China, Hong Kong and Macau, Taiwan's top China policy body, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), announced on Monday.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to bring the island under its control.


MAC raised its travel warning for China to the second-highest "orange" level earlier this year after Beijing published judicial punishments for supporters of Taiwan's independence.

The guidelines announced in June include the death penalty for "particularly serious" cases involving "diehard" advocates.

China has "continued to enact and amend national security laws, leading to numerous incidents involving the illegal detention, arrest, and interrogation of Taiwanese nationals in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau", MAC said.

While Taiwanese people do not have to register their travel to China, the number who have done so this year has soared, according to figures released by MAC.

From January to October, the number of people registering for travel to China's mainland rose "approximately 14 times" compared to last year, MAC said.

Meanwhile, registrations for Hong Kong and Macau "exceeded five times the total for the same period last year".

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