Red Cross societies help send illegal immigrants home

Ten illegal Chinese immigrants were repatriated from Kinmen yesterday with the assistance of the Red Cross societies on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

The repatriated Chinese included two fishermen who landed at a Kinmen beach earlier this month to engage in illegal small-scale trade and eight women who were caught illegally fishing in waters along the Kinmen coast a week ago.

A fishing boat from Xiamen, Fujian Province sailed to Kinmen's Shuitou (水頭) wharf to pick the group up.

Wang Shui-chang (王水彰), president of the Kinmen branch of Taiwan's Red Cross Society, told the Chinese before their departure that the Taiwan government has allowed direct trade between Kinmen and Xiamen since the beginning of last year.

"You should not illegally enter Kinmen for small-scale trading activities any more, nor should you illegally fish in Kinmen waters. If you illegally come here again, you will be sent to Taiwan for repatriation which will take more time and require more formalities," he warned.

Taiwan legalized direct trade, postal and shipping links between Kinmen and Matsu and Fujian's Xiamen and Mawei cities on Jan. 1 last year.

In related news, 18 Chinese illegal immigrants aboard a Taiwan fishing boat were nabbed off Pingtung County on Tuesday night, Coast Guard Administration officials said yesterday.

The group consisted of seven men and 11 women. Each had paid 25,000 yuan (US$3,020) for their passage, the officials said.

The Chinese first boarded a small boat at Pingtan, Fujian Province before transferring to a Pingtung-registered vessel, the Hsin Chuan Fu (新全福號).

Su Wen-cheng (蘇文成), the boat's captain, said he planned to take the group to a location off Pingtung, from where they would have been ferried ashore on a plastic raft.

After being tipped off, coast guard officers sent two cutters to intercept the Hsin Chuan Fu on Tuesday night and Su and two other crew members were taken into custody along with the Chinese.

As the Hsinchu and Ilan detention centers can no longer accommodate female inmates, the Chinese woman are being kept in the custody of the Coast Guard Administration in Hengchun, Pingtung County.