Summary
Taiwan's National Security Bureau has introduced a new website designed to allow Chinese nationals to submit intelligence tips directly to Taipei. The bureau framed the site as a secure avenue for individuals who, it says, increasingly wish to offer information as dissatisfaction grows inside China. The site includes a short promotional video and is blocked inside China, though the bureau noted many people use circumvention tools to reach blocked pages.
Launch and purpose
The bureau publicly launched the portal on Sunday, describing it as a response to what it called an expanding number of people seeking change and willing to contact Taiwanese authorities. In a bilingual statement on the bureau's own website, officials argued that in recent years China's economy has encountered mounting difficulties while political control has remained "tight". The statement said these conditions, combined with a wider set of social and daily-life challenges, have driven public dissatisfaction.
"As a result, an increasing number of individuals have approached relevant agencies in Taiwan, wishing to provide various types of information," the bureau said in both Chinese and English.
Website content and video
The site opens with a roughly one-minute promotional clip the bureau described as AI-generated. The video depicts a Chinese civil servant observing colleagues being investigated and removed from their positions. In the clip the unnamed official comments, using a northern Chinese accent with simplified Chinese subtitles, about colleagues "vanishing one by one." It concludes with the official purchasing a mobile phone, typing on it and saying: "Now is the time to change."
The bureau urged Chinese nationals, whether located in mainland China or abroad, to "actively provide information and make changes with courage." It said the new channel is intended to "expand the bureau's diverse intelligence sources" and noted the approach follows practices used by agencies in countries such as the U.S., Britain and Israel.
Access and responses
The site is inaccessible from within mainland China without users employing tools such as virtual private networks - the bureau acknowledged that many Chinese people use such tools to reach other blocked services like Western social media and search engines. Taiwan's statement did not include comment from Chinese authorities, and the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing did not immediately provide a response when asked.
Context provided by Taipei
The bureau framed the initiative as a means of broadening intelligence collection at a time when Taiwan says it has seen an uptick in espionage cases originating from China. It also noted that China itself has used similar outreach methods: in 2024 Beijing established an email address for people to report alleged crimes by Taiwan "separatists."
What remains unclear
The bureau provided a public-facing explanation for the portal and presented the AI-generated clip as illustrative, but details about the operational handling of incoming tips, verification processes, and the expected volume of submissions were not disclosed on the site. The government statement emphasized widening intelligence sources but offered limited operational specifics.