Former CCTV Host Cheng Wanjun Deported From Taiwan After Seeking Protection; MAC Cites Lack of Evidence
Cheng Wanjun, a veteran mainland Chinese media figure and former lecturer on CCTV's 'Legal Lecture Room', flew from Thailand to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on November 2 but did not board his onward connection. Remaining in the airport's restricted area, he posted videos appealing for short-term humanitarian protection from Taiwan's government and help relocating to a third country. He was ultimately deported back to Thailand.
Cheng states that he was arrested at Beijing airport in November 2019, sentenced to six years for "illegal business operations", and, after his release in 2025, forced into exile in order to publish writings from his prison years. His account was published by an overseas Chinese-language outlet on November 1; GSM presents the above as his own account and has not independently verified it. Taiwan's National Immigration Agency, after consulting the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), determined that he had provided no concrete evidence and did not meet the conditions for assistance, and returned him to his previous point of departure, Bangkok, on November 4.
MAC Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh told a regular press briefing on November 5 that the decision weighed humanitarian considerations, national security and practical capacity. Liang said Cheng's claims of political persecution had no corroboration from any third-party international group or individual, and that Cheng himself had supplied no concrete material; passport records showed he had not been barred from leaving and had travelled to Thailand as a tourist, so the authorities decided on return after weighing all factors.
Cheng later alleged in videos that immigration officers had bound and beaten him during the forced removal. The agency responded that Cheng had resisted strongly and engaged in self-harm while being escorted aboard, that officers took necessary defensive measures to protect flight safety, and that the process was recorded as required by law. The two accounts remain in dispute.
(Source: Mainland Affairs Council, Taiwan)
Source: Mainland Affairs Council (Taiwan
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：台湾桃园国际机场第二航站楼。Terminal 2 of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0)
