The Ministry of the Interior is to conduct a thorough investigation of shell associations and groups allegedly involved in an operation that provided illegal entry to Taiwan for Chinese officials and even spies, Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥) said yesterday.
It is to investigate whether the groups have been involved in abnormal cross-strait exchanges, Chen said.
The number of groups to be surveyed must be considerable, but the ministry does not have an exact figure at present, he said.
Photo: CNA
Prosecutors said that the operation was allegedly headed by Hung Ching-lin (洪慶淋), a retired journalist and former office director of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) caucus at the then-Taipei County Council.
Other suspects included Hung’s wife and daughter, as well as the owners and managers of New Taipei City-based travel agencies, prosecutors said.
Hung allegedly registered more than 100 nonprofit organizations and shell companies with the New Taipei City Government, and colluded with about 20 travel agencies, prosecutors said.
He allegedly organized short-term cross-strait exchange programs to enable Chinese who might have otherwise been denied entry to visit Taiwan on “package tours,” they said.
Huaxia Dadi Travel Service Co (華夏大地旅行社) — which is run by Chang Wei (張瑋), the son of Chinese Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) founder Chang An-le (張安樂) — was among the shell associations, prosecutors said.
Many of the itineraries arranged by Huaxia Dadi included meetings with top Bamboo Union gang members and CUPP officials, prompting prosecutors to suspect the true purposes of the “tourist visits,” they said.
Chen said in an interview at the Executive Yuan in Taipei that the National Immigration Agency (NIA) first noticed the shell associations in 2017.
National security agencies are examining data from before and after Aug. 1, when Bejing placed additional restrictions on individual travel to Taiwan, Chen said.
Separately yesterday, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) told a news briefing in Taipei that the government was strict when reviewing applications considered “suspicious” to ensure healthy cross-strait interactions and normalization.
From 2016 to last month, 232 Chinese passport holders seeking to visit Taiwan were barred from applying or placed on a warning list, Chiu said, citing NIA data.
There were 26 Chinese passport holders prohibited from entering Taiwan, while 964 Chinese had overstayed visas, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.92 million (US$63,145), he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source