Four Taiwanese employees of iPhone maker Foxconn detained in China

Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Four employees of Foxconn, the Taiwanese contract manufacturer that makes the iPhone for Apple in China, have been detained on the mainland, Taiwan authorities said Friday.

Police in the north-central city of Zhengzhou alleged the workers have committed an offense that was the equivalent of a "breach of trust," type offense, The New York Times quoted Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council as saying.

However, Taiwanese authorities said in a statement that Foxconn had made it clear the company had suffered no losses and no damage from the actions of the four employees, suggesting instead that the arrests may be linked to corrupt police officers abusing their power.

Neither Foxconn nor China's Foreign Ministry would comment, with Chinese foreign affairs spokesman Ming Nao saying the case had nothing to do with the ministry, and there was confusion over precisely when and where the four workers were picked up.

Taiwanese news media variously reported that they were detained in Zhengzhou in January or that only two were arrested then with the other two arrested in the southern special economic zone of Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong, in April.

Zhengzhou in Henan Province is dubbed "iPhone City" because most of the 180 milllion smartphones Apple ships each year are made there by Foxconn, its contract manufacturing partner.

However, caught in the crosshairs of rising cross-Taiwan Strait tensions and an expanding "anti-corruption" drive targeting big business and finance by mainland authorities that has increasingly drawn in foreign firms, Foxconn is also the subject of a tax investigation launched in October 2023.

The detentions come as Taiwan has been warning its citizens of the increasing risks they face when they go to China for travel or business -- the two states have no official diplomatic relations -- after a series of detentions of Taiwan citizens by mainland authorities.

In September, Taiwanese political campaigner Yang Chih-yuan received a nine-year prison sentence for allegedly being involved in efforts for Taiwan to "secede" from China which regards the island as a renegade province.

A court in Wenzhou found Yang, who was arrested in 2022, guilty of secession offenses in China and holding senior positions in groups that advocate that Taiwan should become independent.

A prominent Taiwanese businessman had his travel documents confiscated by Chinese authorities on arrival in Shanghai on Sept. 1. and was told he could not leave the country.

However, Taiwanese authorities said the detention of the unnamed Formosa Plastics Group executive could have something to do with a criminal complaint.

"Beijing is doing itself no favors in trying to convince Taiwanese people that they are trying to create safe ways for exchange between Taiwan and China when they have only ramped up their desire to detain and arrest Taiwan citizens," The Telegraph quoted National Taiwan University's Lev Nachman as saying.

However, he said that the jury was out on whether the detentions and crackdowns on foreign firms would result in Taiwanese businesses and people upping sticks and leaving and deter more from coming in future given data showing "plenty of investment still coming from Taiwan to China."