Taiwan threatens to strip citizenship of Hong Kongers involved in cross-border surveillance

Taiwan announced that any Hong Kong national who assists Beijing in carrying out transnational repression on the island could have their Taiwanese citizenship or residency revoked, according to a source. The statement followed the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office issuing arrest warrants for Kuk Kok-yin and Lam Hing, accused of contracting a Taiwanese private-investigation agency to surveil Democratic Progressive Party legislator Puma Shen from early October to early November 2024.

Two Taiwanese investigators were also indicted for illegal data collection under the Personal Data Protection Act. Prosecutors said the Hong Kong suspects travelled to Taiwan to oversee the operation, but are no longer in the country, and that extradition prospects are slim given near-frozen cooperation between the two jurisdictions. The government said swift arrests and harsher sentencing are needed, prompting the Ministry of Justice to review the Anti-Infiltration Act. The official also referenced related cases, including a Hong Kong attacker of Japanese commentator Akio Yaita and a Chinese operative monitoring President William Lai’s family in the United States, underscoring the lack of a dedicated law against transnational repression in Taiwan.