In order to accelerate the repatriation of illegal Chinese immigrants housed at Ilan's Chinglu (靖廬) detention center, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday urged the Chinese government to step up their efforts in handling the repatriation.
"In addition to the existing repatriation route between Matsu and Mawei [in Fujian Province], we hope to establish another from Kinmen to Xiamen. We hope that the Chinese government will agree to this route soon," Wu said.
Wu made the remarks yesterday while inspecting the Chinglu detention center in Dongshan (冬山) Township, Ilan, where there are around 400 female detainees.
At present, there are about 1,500 illegal immigrants detained in four detention centers, with two in Ilan, one in Hsinchu and one on Matsu.
Wu said that the new detention center in Kinmen was almost finished and therefore the government had decided to add the new route to accelerate the repatriation process.
The deportation of illegal Chinese immigrants is carried out according to the Kinmen Accord, which was signed by China and Taiwan in 1990, and in which the Chinese government committed to taking back illegal immigrants within 20 days.
The Chinese government, however, has failed to live up to the accord, officials said.
Yang Ching-ta (
"For example, at our center, five people are infected with HIV. After the Chinese government found out about their condition, it declined to take them back, and has omitted their names from the repatriation list on several occasions," Yang said.
Yang said that most of the female stowaways came to Taiwan to work as prostitutes.
"If they had not been caught by the police and sent to the detention center, they would probably have had to pay about NT$200,000 in fees to people smugglers. We have used their experiences to trace some of the criminals in these gangs," Yang said.
Wu yesterday inspected the detainees to wish them well for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The detention center also set up 10 telephone lines so that the immigrants could call their families in China.
Wu urged the Chinese government to abide by the Kinmen Accord that it signed and take back all of their nationals.
He also called on China to start negotiations on the chronic problem of human trafficking across the Taiwan Strait and stemming the flow of illegals as soon as possible.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all