The Immigration Bureau reported yesterday that over the past three years a total of 16,819 Chinese citizens have been discovered to be in bogus marriages with Taiwanese.
Chinese citizens, who were determined by immigration authorities to be in false marriages constituted 12.6 percent of the 133,305 Chinese citizens who have sought to enter the country as the spouses of Taiwanese nationals between Sept. 1, 2003 and Oct. 31, Immigration Bureau officials said at the Legislative Yuan.
Approval was granted to a total of 103,367, or 77.5 percent, of the Chinese citizens who applied and underwent interviews to enter the country as spouses during that time, the officials said while presenting a written report on the bureau's operations on managing applications by Chinese citizens.
According to the written report, the bureau has operated 39 interview rooms in Taipei, Kaohsiung, Taichung and Hualien, as well as at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Kaohsiung International Airport, and on the outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu, which lie closer to China's Fujian Province than to Taiwan.
To stave off an influx of Chinese immigrants through marriages of convenience, the Immigration Bureau under the National Police Administration implemented a personal interview system for incoming Chinese spouses starting on Sept. 1, 2003.
Some of the Chinese citizens who were determined to be in bogus marriages with Taiwanese citizens were immediately repatriated while some underwent a second round of interviews after their entry into Taiwan, during which it was determined that they were in marriages of convenience, bureau officials said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it