Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has said Hong Kong customs has stepped up scrutiny of “almost every book shipment” from the island, while a logistics company has separately told bookstores to ensure their orders will not breach the city’s national security laws.Independent bookstores and logistics companies also confirmed on Wednesday that customs had stepped up checks on book shipments from Taiwan in recent months.In a reply to the South China Morning Post, a spokesman for the Customs and Excise Department said it was fully committed to safeguarding national security and would seize any seditious items discovered and refer cases to police.
SRCSouth China Morning Post
LANGEN
LEANCenter-Right
WORDS101
ENT6
THU · 2026-07-23 · 09:43 GMTBRIEF NSR-2026-0723-95271
NSR-2026-0723-95271News Report·EN·National Security
Hong Kong checks ‘almost every book shipment from Taiwan’
Hong Kong customs has significantly increased scrutiny of book shipments originating from Taiwan, according to Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council. Independent bookstores and logistics companies have also confirmed heightened checks in recent months.
Matthew ChengSouth China Morning PostFiled 2026-07-23 · 09:43 GMTLean · Center-RightRead · 1 min
South China Morning PostFIG 01
Reading time
1min
Word count
101words
Sources cited
3cited
Entities identified
6entities
Quality score
100%
§ 01
Briefing Summary
AI-generatedNEWSAR · AI
Hong Kong customs has significantly increased scrutiny of book shipments originating from Taiwan, according to Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council. Independent bookstores and logistics companies have also confirmed heightened checks in recent months. A logistics company has advised bookstores to verify that their orders do not violate Hong Kong's national security laws. In response, a Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department spokesman stated their commitment to national security, indicating that seditious items will be seized and referred to the police. This intensified inspection aims to safeguard national security within the city.
Confidence 0.85Sources 3Claims 4Entities 6
§ 02
Article analysis
Model · rule-basedFraming
National Security
Political Strategy
Tone
Measured
AI-assessed
CalmNeutralAlarmist
Factuality
0.70 / 1.00
Factual
LowHigh
Sources cited
3
Well sourced
FewMany
§ 03
Key claims
4 extracted01
Hong Kong Customs is committed to safeguarding national security and will seize seditious items.
quoteCustoms and Excise Department spokesman
Confidence
0.95
02
Hong Kong customs has stepped up scrutiny of almost every book shipment from Taiwan.
factualTaiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC)
Confidence
0.90
03
Bookstores are being advised to ensure their orders do not breach the city’s national security laws.
factuallogistics company
Confidence
0.85
04
Independent bookstores and logistics companies confirmed increased checks on book shipments from Taiwan.
factualIndependent bookstores and logistics companies
Confidence
0.80
§ 04
Full report
1 min read · 101 words§ 05
Entities
6 identifiedKey playerOppositionContextPositiveNeutralNegative
Organizations2
§ 06
Keywords & salience
10 termsbook shipments
1.00
hong kong customs
0.90
taiwan
0.80
national security laws
0.80
scrutiny
0.70
logistics company
0.60
seditious items
0.50
independent bookstores
0.50
mainland affairs council
0.40
customs and excise department
0.40
§ 07
Topic connections
Interactive graph Network visualization showing 51 related topics
View Full Graph Person Organization Location Event|Click node to navigate|Edge numbers = shared articles