Taipei [Taiwan], January 2 : A Taiwan security official has warned Taiwanese citizens that they could face extradition to China if they fail to repay loans taken out in China using a Chinese ID card, Taipei Times reported on Thursday.
This warning comes after the release of a YouTube video by Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan and YouTuber "Pa Chiung" on China's "united front" tactics.
In the video released last month, Lin Jincheng, head of the Taiwan Youth Entrepreneurship Park in Quanzhou in China's Fujian Province which Chen visited, said Taiwanese could apply for a Chinese ID card, register a company in China and start a cross-border e-commerce business, as per Taipei Times.
With a Chinese ID card, Taiwanese could purchase property and vehicles in China without a down payment and use them as collateral to apply for bank loans, Lin, who is wanted for fraud in Taiwan, said in the video.
However, the video also highlighted a concerning trend where some Taiwanese "entrepreneurs overborrow" from Chinese banks, only to split the funds with intermediaries and Chinese officials before transferring the rest back to Taiwan.
Further, an anonymous Taiwanese official stated that Taiwanese would not be able to get away even if they had no intention of going back to China.
He added, "You might think a Chinese ID card is the way to a new life, but it could actually be the way to the end of the world."
Meanwhile, Some university professors, in hopes of getting a reward, would also organize "exchange" tours to China and encourage students to do so for the sake of convenience as they would have to scan a QR code whenever they pay for anything in China.
Intermediaries would say they could help with purchasing flats and cars, applying for bank loans and registering a company, and that there would be no problem with not repaying the loan as long as the applicant does not go back to China, the official said.
The worst case would be the personal information being used for dummy accounts for scammers, he said.
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