Suspecting that more than 1,000 Chinese nationals who entered the country to work in the fishing business have overstayed their permitted time in Taiwan and are now at large, prosecutors and police yesterday raided a dormitory housing Chinese workers in Ilan County's Nanfangao (
Police also raided coast guard offices at the port and brokerage companies in charge of bringing Chinese to work in Taiwan. Prosecutors questioned both brokerage officials and county government officials in charge of the fishery business.
Ilan prosecutors said they suspected that more than 1,000 Chinese workers who have disappeared in recent years did not return to China after they finished their contracts.
PHOTO: CHIANG CHIH-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Nanfangao is known for housing hundreds of Chinese who work in the nation's fishery business.
Prosecutors suspect that some of the Chinese who have gone missing in Taiwan may work for China's intelligence bureau.
Chinese workers can apply to work for Taiwan fishing firms through brokerage companies, and they are allowed entry into Taiwan after their applications have been approved.
However, said Ilan prosecutors, it was common that after an applicant is approved, another person actually comes to Taiwan using the original applicant's identity.
Many of the Chinese workers have no experience in the fishing business when they come to Taiwan, prosecutors added.
An Ilan county government official in charge of regulating the fishery business, Chen Ching-ju (
Chen said that after Chinese workers are authorized to enter the country, they are transported by boat to Taiwan.
When the workers enter the country, coast guard officers checked their Chinese identification cards. If officers find workers trying to use fake IDs or IDs belonging to somebody else, they are sent back to China.
Taiwan currently has more than 4,000 Chinese workers in the fishery industry.
The central government has attempted to limit the number of Chinese workers in the industry, but fishing firms have opposed it due to a labor shortage since the 1980s.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
The long-awaited Taichung aquarium is expected to open next year after more than a decade of development. The building in Cingshui District (清水) is to feature a large ocean aquarium on the first floor, coral display area on the second floor, a jellyfish tank and Dajia River (大甲溪) basin display on the third, a river estuary display and restaurant on the fourth, and a cafe and garden on the fifth. As it is near Wuci Fishing Port (梧棲漁港), many are expecting the opening of the aquarium to bring more tourism to the harbor. Speaking at the city council on Monday, Taichung City Councilor
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese