Chinese accents can be seen everywhere in Taiwan's public places these days. In local hospitals, most caregivers are Chinese women nominally married to a local so they can work illegally in Taiwan. Some immigrant Chinese set up stalls in night markets, while others work in the restaurants, or even the sex industry. The antiques and jade accessories sold by the Chinese vendors are cheap and good bargains, even if they turn out to be fake. This is nothing new.
However, there is little public awareness about their situation. The average wage for illegal Chinese immigrants is much lower than Taiwanese workers, and they share approximately the same language. Since manpower agencies can profit, many Taiwanese "snakeheads" continue to smuggle Chinese people into Taiwan, even at the risk of going to jail.
According to a survey published by the Taipei County Government on Monday, among the 47,191 foreign and Chinese citizens in Taiwan by marriage, about 43.7 percent of them cannot be traced. Among the 20,646 missing spouses, 10,211 of them do not reside at their stated addresses, 3,502 were divorced, and 6,933 had left Taiwan.
Since the survey results did not separate foreign spouses from Chinese spouses, it isn't possible to tell what proportion of the missing are Chinese. This indicates that the Taipei County Government is not politically sensitive to the issue, and is also unaware of the potential threat posed by missing and absconding Chinese spouses. Brides from Southeast Asia or other countries do not pose a national security threat to Taiwan, and when they go missing they merely represent flaws in our law enforcement system. But because of the long-standing antipathy between China and Taiwan, Chinese illegal immigrants or those who enter through bogus marriages might have specific political or military missions, and should be considered a national security threat.
According to the survey conducted by the Ministry of the Interior last November, of the 320,000 foreign spouses in Taiwan, non-Chinese spouses only accounted for 70,000, an indication of how common marriage across the Taiwan Strait is. If this survey is taken together with the Taipei County Government's, the security and political implications of these Chinese spouses coming to Taiwan under the legal pretext of marriage, let alone the large numbers of unaccounted for illegal immigrants can no longer be overlooked.
According to a March 17 report in the Taipei Times, a US military delegation arrived in Taiwan last week to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and the numbers of Chinese who might be employed as a fifth column to aid such an invasion. Illegal Chinese is a question over which our government should be very concerned. The lack of public awareness about this is largely due to the government's failure to provide adequate publicity. The "greater China" consciousness of the opposition further obstructs the government, making it difficult to enforce regulations.
For the sake of public safety and national security, it's time for the government to tighten enforcement and investigation of all illegal immigrants, including foreign spouses. They should launch publicity campaigns to raise awareness, initiate random street corner and place of employment identity checks, and demand stiff punishment for companies that illegally employ them and agents that deal in illegal immigrants. This issue can no longer be ignored.
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