Thousands of police said to have made illicit visits to China

A preliminary investigation by the National Police Administration (警政署) indicates that at least 2,000 police officers and police officials have violated regulations concerning travel to China over the course of the past five years.

Some of these police officers and officials are suspected of recruiting Chinese prostitutes, while others are thought to have gambled or visited brothels.

Currently, under regulations governing cross-strait affairs, no civil servants may visit China as tourists. They may only enter China for business purposes or in the event of the serious illness or death of a relative of up to the third degree of kinship.

Civil servants below the level of section director have unrestricted rights to visit relatives up to the third degree of kinship.

Many junior police officers complain that they should not be affected by the regulation, as they lack access to and are therefore not informed of secrets that have a bearing on national security.

In September, officials of the National Police Administration began a series of probes into travel regulation breaches by police officers -- and they then requested police station supervisors and commanders to establish whether any of their staff members had been involved in any way with criminal syndicates in order to recruit prostitutes from the Chinese mainland.

The action came after several Taipei municipal policemen were arrested in September on charges of abusing their authority and the illegal detention of Chinese call girls in order to blackmail their pimps.