Taiwan has instituted new rules requiring residency applicants from Hong Kong and Macao to declare whether they have sworn allegiance to their respective governments, a measure that some observers believe is designed to prevent infiltration.

The Mainland Affairs Council of Taiwan said that applications could be refused if there were concerns that the residency candidates would harm the national interest. The council added that the applications would be handled in accordance with laws and regulations.

Authorities amended the application documents on June 1 to reflect the new requirement. Applicants are now told to list all their work experience post-graduation as well, whereas the previous version of the form asked only for work experience over the last 10 years.

Immigration consultant Garrick Cheung told Apple Daily that he believed the Taiwanese government had implemented the measure out of political considerations. Cheung added that before June 1, the authorities were already scrutinizing residency applications from Hong Kong civil servants, using different methods to determine whether a candidate might engage in spying.

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Political commentator Sang Pu said that the change reflected the fact that Taiwan was regarding the Hong Kong government in the same way as the mainland Chinese government.

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