Statistics from the National Immigration Agency (NIA) suggest that while Chinese now enjoy facilitated travel to Taiwan, criminal activities perpetrated by the Chinese have also remained high, and officials are hard-pressed to keep tabs on every Chinese visitor entering the country.
More than 700 Chinese are on a list for overstaying their visa, and 211 of them may be involved in illegal activities, the agency said, adding that these were only the numbers officially recorded.
The actual numbers could be as high as 1,000 Chinese overstays, it added.
Of the 211 members not eligible for visa extension and that were suspected criminals, 60 came over on a professional visa, 38 on business, 66 on tourism and 47 medical checkups.
They disappeared shortly after entering the country, the agency said, adding that they may currently be either working at part-time jobs or may be involved in prostitution or fraud.
Some may be gathering intelligence and pose a severe national security risk, it added.
The other 573 Chinese overstaying their visas, but still within the timeframe of extending their visas, would be notified by officials, the agency said, adding that it was hard to say whether those visitors have simply forgot to extend their visas or were also involved in illegal activities.
With the variety of methods available to Chinese to enter Taiwan, the agency said human trafficking has decreased over the years.
In 1992, the government repatriated nearly 2,000 Chinese who illegally entered the country, and in 1993 the numbers climbed as high as 6,000, the agency said.
However, since 2006, the numbers have seen a decrease, with only 53 repatriated in 2011, 17 in 2012 and 21 in last year up to November last year, the agency said.
The decreasing numbers of repatriated Chinese does not necessarily reflect a decrease in illegal activities perpetrated by Chinese, but could simply mean they have more legitimate ways of entering Taiwan, the agency said.
Chinese may now enter for medical, tourism and business purposes, which is opening a lot of doors for those who want to exploit the system, the agency said.
Taiwan can only process Chinese requests to enter Taiwan based according to the information they have submitted, as accessing Chinese household registration or criminal data was difficult, it said.
It cited Ding Zhongtao (丁仲桃), a Chinese arrested for fraud in June last year, as an example.
Ding entered the country for a medical checkup, and it was not until his arrest in June that authorities realized he already had a criminal file in China, the agency said.
Officials said in private that they were concerned about the growing channels of entry available to Chinese, the shortage of manpower and lack of ancillary systems to keep tabs on their entry, adding that it had the potential to become a major problem.
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
BIG YEAR: The company said it would also release its A12 chip the same year to keep a ‘reliable stream of new silicon technologies’ flowing to its customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its newest A13 chip is to enter volume production in 2029 as the chipmaker seeks to hold onto its tech leadership and demand for next-generation chips used in artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance-computing (HPC) and mobile applications. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, also unveiled its A12 chip at its annual technology symposium in Santa Clara, California. The A12 chip, which features TSMC’s super-power-rail technology to provide backside power delivery for AI and HPC applications, is also to enter volume production in 2029, a year after the scheduled release of the A14 chip. The technology moves
RSS