Lax screening by the National Immigration Agency (NIA) is posing a severe threat to national security, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said.
Chen said records show that nearly 4,000 Chinese Communist Party (CCP) United Front Work Department officials have visited Taiwan since 2008, ostensibly for economic or academic exchanges, and their numbers continue to rise.
More than 3,801 officials from the department across all levels of the CCP government have visited Taiwan since 2009, Chen said.
Chen said 68 officials visited in 2008, 446 in 2009, 754 in 2010, 740 in 2011, 855 in 2012, while last year and this year up till last month, 938 visited the nation.
The department’s former deputy chief, Xu Zongcheng (續總成), visited in November 2009 and Deputy Director-General Chen Lin (陳琳) visited in January last year, the lawmaker said.
The immigration agency has failed to uphold the Act Governing Approval for Mainland Area Professionals to Engage in Professional Activities in Taiwan (大陸地區專業人士來台從事專業活動許可辦法), which is supposed to be the basis on which the agency considers Chinese applications, Chen Chi-mai said.
“The department is treating Taiwan like its own backyard with such ease of access,” he added.
The merging of the former act with the Act on Permission for Entrance of People of the Mainland Area into the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民進入台灣地區許可辦法) last year relaxed regulations, Chen Chi-mai said, adding that as long as Chinese applicants state their reason for visiting as a “short period of professional exchange” then the entry application is approved.
More than 1,020 CCP Unified Front Work Department officials applied to visit Taiwan last year and this year to last month, yet only 24 were denied, which represents a 97 percent approval rate, Chen Chi-mai said, adding that all 14 officials who applied for a “short period of professional exchange” were approved.
The entire system for reviewing applications has become dysfunctional, Chen Chi-mai said.
The “united front” principle of “allying with your lesser enemies to fight your primary enemy” eroded the basis of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rule in China and eventually saw the KMT defeated in 1949, Chen Chi-mai said, adding that the KMT’s fear of the tactic had caused the 40-year-long White Terror period in Taiwan.
“It is sad to see the KMT government has not learned its lesson and is still allowing the CCP United Front officials open access to Taiwan to brainwash the Taiwanese,” Chen Chi-mai said.
“President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration must implement a major review and bar any member of the CCP’s United Front Work Department from entering Taiwan,” Chen Chi-mai said.
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
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
Air and rail traffic around Taiwan were disrupted today while power cuts occurred across the country as Typhoon Kong-rey, predicted to make landfall in eastern Taiwan this afternoon, continued edging closer to the country. A total of 241 passenger and cargo flights departing from or arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport were canceled today due to the typhoon, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. As of 9:30am, 109 inbound flights, 103 outbound flights and 29 cargo flights had been canceled, the company said. Taiwan Railway Corp also canceled all express trains on its Western Trunk Line, Eastern Trunk Line, South-Link Line and attached branches
Typhoon Kong-rey is forecast to make landfall in eastern Taiwan this afternoon and would move out to sea sometime overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 9am today, Kong-rey's outer rim was covering most of Taiwan except for the north. The storm's center was 110km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost tip, and moving northwest at 28kph. It was carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of 184kph, and gusts of up to 227kph, the CWA said. At a news conference this morning, CWA forecaster Chu Mei-lin (朱美霖) said Kong-rey is moving "extremely fast," and is expected to make landfall between
RSS