The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) now lists the provincial Department of Commerce as the Taiwan Trade Center’s Professional Supervisory Unit (PSU) in Liaoning. The Taiwan Trade Center confirmed to The NGO Project that the Department of Commerce is indeed its PSU. As The China NGO Project has written previously, the MPS frequently updates and corrects data in its database without notification.
According to data from the Ministry of Public Security, the Liaoning Public Security Bureau is now serving as the Professional Supervisory Unit (PSU) for a Taiwanese NGO. This is the first time since the Foreign NGO Law went into effect in January that a public security organ has agreed to serve as a foreign NGO’s PSU. It is also notable since public security entities were not initially included in the Ministry of Public Security’s 2017 list of eligible PSUs.
Interestingly, the NGO in question, the Taiwan Trade Center, has representative offices already registered in Guangdong and Sichuan provinces. In those places, the provincial Commerce Departments are serving as the Center’s PSUs, befitting its work promoting trade links. The Liaoning Commerce Department has sponsored nine foreign NGOs, including one registered on November 9, the same day the as the Taiwan Trade Center. It is unclear why the Liaoning Public Security Bureau would need to sponsor a trade NGO in its province.