Law enforcement agencies are looking into allegations that money from China is being used to influence the media in this country by buying into certain news outlets, a senior Mainland Affairs Council official said yesterday.
Speaking at a regular news conference, council Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) said the law forbids Chinese companies or individual citizens from holding any stake in local news media, while their foreign counterparts are allowed to invest in the media under certain conditions.
Law enforcement authorities are still investigating the veracity of reports made by local media about the influx of Chinese capital.
"As the investigations are still ongoing, the council is not in a position to divulge at this moment whether any concrete evidence has been discovered," Chen said.
Commenting on recent reports about the possibility of Chinese secret agents entering the country with the assistance of smuggling rings, Chen said prosecution authorities are handling some cases.
As to reports that prosecutors will indict more than 1,000 Chinese nationals who have obtained permanent residency by pretending to be residents of Matsu, Chen said the council would not comment on any cases that are pending.
However, Chen pointed out that the council gave the Legislative Yuan a number of revisions last year to the regulations governing applications by Matsu residents to settle in Taiwan proper.
"The draft revision is still pending legislative approval," he said.
Since some Matsu residents were stranded in China after the Chinese Communists took control in 1949, the government adopted measures in 1996 to facilitate their application for settlement in Taiwan proper. They need only produce testimonies of three Matsu residents proving that they were Matsu-born.
Press reports said more than 1,000 Chinese nationals have settled in Taoyuan by pretending that they were Matsu natives.
Media reports said the Taoyuan Prosecutor's Office is looking into the case.
Quoting prosecution sources, the reports said all the Chinese citizens under scrutiny had first registered as Matsu residents and then moved to Taiwan proper. Some of them have resided in Taoyuan for more than six years.
According to the Bureau of Immigration's statistics, more than 240 Matsu residents have applied to settle in Taiwan over the past years and more than 4,000 others have applied to live with them as dependents or close relatives.
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