Illegal Chinese immigrants injured or killed while trying to enter the country might not receive any compensation, Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) said yesterday.
"Although the Criminal Victim Protection Law (
Chen Ding-nan made the remark yesterday morning in response to a talk by TSU Legislator Chen Chien-ming (
Chen Chien-ming argued that Chinese women who lose their lives while illegally entering Taiwan or who use fake marriages to enter the country to become prostitutes should not be covered by the protection law.
He was referring to the recent deaths of six Chinese women who were forced to jump off a Taiwanese boat while being chased by the coast guard in waters off Miaoli County .
Media reports said the justice ministry has planned to grant each victim's family NT$1 million in compensation.
According to the Criminal Victim Protection Law, those injured during a criminal offense are entitled to a maximum compensation of NT$400,000 to pay for their medical expenses. Those seriously injured are eligible for compensation of up to NT$1 million.
Those who lost their lives can receive funeral compensation of up to NT$300,000. They are also entitled to compensation of up to NT$1 million to help pay for the education expenses of their bereaved children.
According to Coast Guard Administration Director Wang Chun (
While 28 percent of women engaged in the sex industry were smuggled into the country, 29 percent of them entered the country with a fake marriage and 31 percent of them entered with the excuse of visiting relatives, Wang said.
Coast Guard Administration statistics show that about 37 percent of the women smuggling into the country came from Fujian Province, while 17 percent were from Sichuan Province and 13 percent from Hubei and Hunan provinces.
About 64 percent landed in northern Taiwan, while 22 percent in central Taiwan and 10 percent in the south.
To curb the smuggling problem, Wang said, it is important to nail the smuggling ring one month after busting illegal immigrants.
"Our study found that smuggling rings start to make profits about one month after successfully making the delivery. In other words, we must act fast to locate the kingpin of the illegal syndicate during this month-long critical period," Wang said.
According to Wang, about 26 percent, or 275, of the illegal immigrants interviewed between July last year and August this year said they were arrested on the same the day of their attempted illegal entry to the country.
More than 59 percent, or 600, were arrested one month after their illegal entry and 10 percent, or 111, were arrested two to three months after their illegal entry.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most