Taipei: The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) announced Thursday that Zhou Manzhi, a woman originally from China, will lose the Taiwanese citizenship she acquired through marriage in 2004 after being convicted for her involvement in organizing groups in Taiwan under the direction of Beijing.
According to Focus Taiwan, Zhou was found guilty by the Supreme Court for her efforts in establishing two marriage-immigrant advocacy groups in Taiwan, which were determined to be under the control of organizations linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This decision was initially made by the Taiwan High Court's Kaohsiung Branch and subsequently confirmed by the Supreme Court, which upheld an eight-year prison sentence against Zhou for breaching the National Security Act.
During a regular news briefing in Taipei, MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh confirmed the revocation of Zhou's Taiwanese citizenship, noting that the government will adhere to provisions in the Cross-Strait Act. This act permits the government to revoke the settlement permission and household registration of individuals who, having originally been Chinese nationals, pose a threat to national security or social stability.
The legal proceedings against Zhou began after the Taiwan High Court's Kaohsiung Branch initially acquitted her in March 2025, citing insufficient evidence that the groups linked to her were under CCP control. However, the Supreme Court ordered a retrial last September, citing a failure by the lower court to consider a National Security Bureau investigation that tied the groups to CCP officials and Chinese government or military personnel.
Liang emphasized that the determination of whether a Chinese organization is controlled by the CCP should not solely rely on its registration as a private association. Instead, the courts must assess whether it operates under the CCP's substantive control, a stance that was upheld by the Supreme Court and is expected to influence how similar cases are approached in the future. After the retrial, Zhou was sentenced to eight years in prison in January, a conviction that was finalized by the Supreme Court's dismissal of her appeal on Wednesday.