Taipei [Taiwan], December 14 : Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has urged Chinese authorities to release three Taiwanese members of the I-Kuan Tao (Yiguandao) religious group arrested in China, Central News Agency (CNA) reported.
The MAC issued a statement on Friday night, shortly after China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) confirmed the arrest of the three people. According to MAC's statement, Taiwan's government requested Chinese authorities to ensure the legal rights and safety of the nationals by sending them back to Taiwan.
According to MAC statement, the Chinese authorities, over the past year, has "illegally arrested," imprisoned and punished Taiwanese members of religious groups who visited China on multiple occassions, according to CNA report.
The agency noted that China tries to "infiltrate Taiwan under the guise of religious interaction." However, China is not happy to see Taiwanese members of religious groups promote their religion in China. It urged people of Taiwan to recognize that China does not have freedom of religion and for members of religious groups to reconsider travelling to Beijing.
In a statement issued by TAO on Friday, the three detained Taiwan nationals, identified by their last names Chou, Chiang, and Hsieh, were arrested by police in Guangdong on suspicion of "organizing and practicing as members of a cult that undermines law enforcement," CNA reported.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), a semi-official organization tasked by Taiwan's government with handling technical matters involving China, stressed that I-Kuan Tao is a legal religion with millions of followers in Taiwan, according to CNA report. The SEF called on Chinese authorities to respect freedom of religion, protect the safety of three Taiwanese nationals and release them at the earliest.
Earlier this month, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia said that the three members of the religious group were arrested in October and were not involved in political activities. Luo said that SEF has tried to learn more information about the situation and received no response to its inquiries from the Chinese authorities. The three Taiwan nationals arrested in China have hired lawyers.
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