Vice president says world must know about people-smuggling

Vice President Annette Lu visits some illegal Chinese immigrants yesterday. She condemned Beijing's tolerance of people-smuggling across the Taiwan Strait. PHOTO: HUANG CHI-HAO, TAIPEI TIMES

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday said the nation should bring the issue of illegal Chinese immigrants to the attention of the international community to pressure China to address the problem squarely.

Lu made the remarks when she led members of the human rights committee of the Presidential Office to visit the Coast Guard Administration and learn how government agencies deal with illegal immigrants.

Coast Guard Administrator Wang Chun (王郡) reported that Taiwan uses the organization of the US and Canadian coast guards as a model. Wang said the administration's work is hampered by having only a little more than NT$2 billion (US$58.47 million) in funds to upgrade its hardware. The administration needs more assistance, he said.

Ho Hsiang-tai (賀湘台), director of the administration's information department, said the number of illegal Chinese immigrants has increased every year since 2001, and that women outnumber men.

A lax and incomprehensible law dealing with smuggling operations and an insufficient cross-strait mechanism to crack down on crimes have contributed to the difficulties in addressing the issue, he added.

To solve the illegal immigrant problem, the government has started to repatriate illegal Chinese immigrants.

It has increased the repatriation rate from one shipload of 150 people per month to three shiploads every two months, Johnnason Liu (劉德勳), vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), said.

"If the government does not speed up the repatriation operation, Taiwan will have to pay more than NT$150 million a year just to accommodate the illegal immigrants," he said, adding that it's a heavy financial burden on the nation.

Lu said that as the nation is streamlining its government agencies, the Coast Guard Administration should not downsize, but should expand and include other government agencies to form a marine department.

Lu also favored a revision of the law to give stiffer penalties to "snakeheads" to discourage them from engaging in illegal dealings.

"The solution to the smuggling issue should not rely on current cross-strait mechanisms," Lu said, adding that Taiwan must cooperate with other countries that are plagued with the same problem to put pressure on China, so that Beijing will address the issue squarely.

Lu asked the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) to work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and international non-governmental organizations to deal with the question. She said the condition of the detention center for illegal Chinese immigrants in Hsinchu is not good, and she asked the National Police Administration to find a suitable place to build a new detention center, and to examine the feasibility of setting up a similar center on the outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu.

"Current detention centers should also examine the feasibility of inviting volunteers and religious groups to speak on the meaning of life to the detainees," she said.

Lu earlier visited a provisional detention center set up in a police precinct in Sanchung, Taipei County.

"This is not only a humanitarian issue, but also highlights a political issue," Lu said, urging Beijing to take more time to take care of its people so that they are more willing to stay there.

Nineteen Chinese women currently staying in the provisional detention center expressed the wish to return home early to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival on Thursday, but Lu told them: "Your government is not willing to take you back."