Taiwan is being deluged with pornography from Japan, a representative of the ROC Publishing Foundation (中華民國出版評議基金會) said yesterday.
More than 3 million items were smuggled in to Taiwan every year, with as many as 130,000 pornographic comic books, 72,000 pornographic magazines and 52,000 albums of nude photos smuggled into the island in the past month, foundation executive Hsu Wen-pin (
"More than 250,000 obscene publications are being smuggled into Taiwan every month," Hsu said.
Hsu, along with KMT Legislator Tseng Tsai Mei-tso (
Hsu said that obscene publications can easily be found when they pass through customs, but they are seldom seized.
The foundation said that it suspected illegal collusion between smut importers and customs officers.
Tseng Tsai also pointed out that this material can easily be looked at by Taiwan's youngsters at their local bookstores.
The situation was worrisome, she said.
Hsu said many local publishers are smuggling these books and magazines into Taiwan because of the large profits to be earned, citing one publishing company which increased its yearly profit by a factor of 22 by selling smuggled pornography.
In response to the foundation's accusation, Yeh Fang-hua (葉芳華), an official at the Directorate General of Customs under the Ministry of Finance, yesterday said that Article 45 of the Customs Law does state that pornographic books, magazines and pictures are contraband goods and are banned from being imported to Taiwan.
However, since Taiwan's Publishing Law was revoked, the Government Information Office, which is supposed to determine what counts as pornographic material, lacks the necessary authority and has withdrawn all its inspectors from the customs service already.
Also the customs service is facing a manpower shortage and it is impossible for the customs officers to check all imported publications, Yeh said.
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