Taipei: Taiwan’s quasi-governmental Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) on Friday urged followers of the I-Kuan Tao religion to refrain from traveling to China. This warning comes in light of reports indicating that 16 Taiwanese individuals, including 11 adherents of the Taoist sect, have been detained in mainland China over recent years as Beijing tightens its control over religious activities.
According to Focus Taiwan, the advisory was issued by SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia during a regular news briefing in Taipei. From 2019 to October this year, there have been 14 cases involving 16 Taiwanese citizens detained in China for reasons related to their religious practices. Of these individuals, 11 were followers of I-Kuan Tao, a religious group rooted in Taoism, while the others were linked to various faiths including the Unification Church and Christianity. SEF is a semi-official body tasked with managing cross-strait exchanges between Taiwan and China.
Luo highlighted a case from November 2019 where one I-Kuan Tao follower was detained but has since returned to Taiwan. The other 10 followers were detained between October 2024 and October 2025 and remain in custody. He detailed how some of these individuals, including three elderly tourists in Guangdong Province, were taken into custody by Chinese authorities following a tip-off last October. The detainees, identified by their surnames Chou, Chiang, and Hsieh, were suspected of “organizing and practicing as members of a cult that undermines law enforcement,” according to a statement from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office issued last December.
Additionally, Luo recounted a case from June in Guangdong where a couple, both I-Kuan Tao followers, were detained after a raid, despite having conducted business in China for years. The most recent incident involved a Taiwanese businessperson arrested in Hainan Province this October, with religious paraphernalia confiscated during the arrest.
Luo expressed concerns about potential unreported cases and emphasized that the 10 individuals detained over the past year were merely practicing their faith without engaging in political activities. He urged I-Kuan Tao followers and other religious believers to be cognizant of the risks associated with traveling to China, citing a lack of religious freedom under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
I-Kuan Tao, also known as Yiguandao, translates to “The Tao that unifies all with the one,” as explained by the World I-Kuan Tao Headquarters (WITH). WITH describes the religion as being based on Chinese traditions with teachings that stress traditional values such as family, honor, respect, and moderation.
