In the wake of an offer to allow Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan, a legislator yesterday said Beijing should show good will by taking back the 2,223 illegal Chinese immigrants currently detained here.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator and caucus whip, Peter Lin (
He said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
He said if China really wants to show good will to the Taiwanese, it should help solve the problem as soon as possible.
Lin said according to the Immigration Office under the National Police Agency, three detention centers located in Hsinchu, Ilan and Matsu currently hold hundreds of Chinese immigrants. Detained within the facilities are 711 males and 1,512 females.
Lin said the immigrants are waiting for boats to take them back to China. They are waiting indefinitely, as the Chinese government has purposely delayed their repatriation.
The government spends a lot of money every year to care for the detainees, and this situation could potentially be made worse by an influx of Chinese tourists, who may abscond while visiting Taiwan, Lin said.
In addition, according to law enforcement officials, there are 480 Taiwanese criminals on the lam in China, including Wu Tse-yuan (伍澤元), former Pingtung county commissioner who was found guilty of corruption; Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄), a former Kaohsiung City Council speaker found guilty of vote-buying in a council speakership election; and Eddie Liu (劉偉杰), a former employee of the prominent Taiwanese law firm Lee and Li Attorneys-at-Law, who embezzled NT$3 billion, Lin said.
According to Immigration Office of the National Police Agency, 38,617 Chinese people have traveled to Taiwan after the their government allowed tourists to come to here by application, in a trial period which began in 2002 and was discontinued in March.
Lin said National Security Bureau Deputy Director Wang Chin-wang (
According to Lin, Wang said that easing the travel ban on Chinese tourists would have some impact on the nation's security.
Lin said the government should therefore not allow Chinese tourists to come to Taiwan.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and