The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) yesterday appealed to China to speedily repatriate its illegal immigrants before the Lunar New Year.
"Aside from China, there isn't a country that will not welcome its citizens back into its territory. We hope that China can arrange to repatriate these 1,650 illegal immigrants so they can reunite with their families right away," minister Yu Cheng-hsien (
Although China restarted its repatriation mechanism at the end of last October, there are still 1,650 Chinese immigrants in Taiwan's detention centers.
The return of cross-strait illegal immigrants and criminals is based on the Kinmen Accord (金門協議), which was signed by both sides' Red Cross societies in 1990. The accord states that once illegal immigrants have been arrested, a verification procedure should be completed within 20 days, and arrangements for repatriation should follow.
China, however, has frequently delayed such arrangements, resulting in a distorted situation of detainees waiting endlessly in four detention centers in Taiwan over the past 10 years.
According to the Bureau of Immigration, 43,210 illegal Chinese immigrants have been arrested under the accords, 41,101 of whom have been repatriated to China.
Each Chinese immigrant has to wait for an average of 173 days for repatriation. The government said that holding the detainees has been a heavy financial burden.
Yu said that Taiwan has suggested providing ships and transporting the immigrants to China, but China continues to turn down the proposal.
Based on the Bureau of Immigration's figures, the Ministry of the Interior had to allocate more than NT$100 million every year for the immigrants. Illness and pregnancy require extra funds.
In yesterday's press conference, Yu also vowed to work with Southeast Asian countries and China to arrest 47 Taiwanese fugitives hiding in these countries.
Yu specifically named former independent lawmaker Wu Tzer-yuan (
Wu left Taiwan on Dec. 29, 2001. The Ministry of Justice's Bureau of Investigation later said that Wu had been spotted by its special agents in Guangzhou, China.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by