Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) yesterday said the council is to hold a cross-ministerial meeting today to discuss tightening criminal liability for people who came to Taiwan illegally after two Chinese men attempted to illegally enter Taiwan on small vessels in the past three months.
A 60-year-old Chinese man, surnamed Ruan (阮), on June 9 arrived in a motorboat at a ferry pier in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), while a Chinese man surnamed Wang (王) was found on an inflatable rubber boat at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口) on Sept. 14.
Chinese are often discovered offshore by the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) personnel, and they are not prosecuted if they do not enter Taiwan, Kuan said.
Photo copied by Wu Jen-chieh, Taipei Times
If people who illegally enter Taiwan are captured near the shore, the punishment is imprisonment of no more than five years, she said, adding that the court can sentence them to less than three months, or even probation.
Ruan was on Wednesday last week sentenced to eight months in jail, which is the heaviest penalty given so far, she said, adding that he would be sent back to China after completing his sentence.
If China is performing a stress test on Taiwan, its cost is very low, Kuan said.
The OAC is to hold an illegal entry prevention meeting today to be attended by officials from the Ministry of Justice, the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of the Interior (MOI).
Kuan said she would propose amending the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法) and the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) to tighten criminal liability to deter such actions.
Taiwan proper and Kinmen and Lienchiang counties have a long shoreline of about 1,800km, she said.
The OAC would upgrade its drones and infrared detection equipment to improve detection, Kuang said.
However, fishers and people near the shores should report unusual activities and awareness for civil defense should be increased to crack down on drugs and weapons smuggling.
According to the implementation rules for the CGA, people who report suspected illegal border crossings can receive a reward of NT$3,000 for each seized illegal entrant, but no more than NT$200,000, the OAC said.
The council is considering increasing the reward and loosening the requirements to encourage people to report suspected cases, it said.
Meanwhile, the MOI said that as Ruan entered an area under police jurisdiction, it plans to hold a joint exercise for the police and fire departments next month, and the CGA would participate.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its