Activists and netizens yesterday criticized the government for denying entry to German environmentalist Daniel Helmdach at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday afternoon, and deporting him later that night.
“[Helmdach] has never done anything illegal in Taiwan. I think he was denied entry because he took part in an anti-nuclear demonstration two years ago, and it so happens that the nationwide anti-nuclear demonstrations are taking place the day after his arrival,” said Green Formosa Front member Lin Chang-mau (林長茂), who was to pick up Helmdach from the airport on Friday.
“This is the only reason I can think of behind the National Immigration Agency’s (NIA) decision to deny his entry and deport him,” Lin added. “This is a joke.”
Helmdach arrived in Taiwan at about 4pm on Friday, but was denied entry and deported at 11pm that night.
Chao Jui-kuang (晁瑞光), a teacher at Tainan Community College and a personal friend of Helmdach, said he could not understand why the environmentalist was deported.
“Helmdach was here to visit friends in Taiwan. He didn’t come here to join the anti-nuclear demonstration. The government should apologize to him,” Chao said on his Facebook page.
“This is such a shame for Taiwan,” Chao added.
Chao said that when Helmdach was in Taiwan two years ago, he volunteered at Tainan Community College and helped translate information related to environmental protection into German and English.
As an anti-nuclear demonstration took place on April 30 that year, Helmdach went along to observe the event, “that’s probably why he was blacklisted,” Chao said.
Commenting on the case, immigration agency spokesman Hsu Chien-lin (徐健麟) told the Taipei Times via telephone that Helmdach was prohibited from entering the country for three years according to the conclusion of an immigration review meeting on Dec. 27, 2011.
“Helmdach left the country on July 25, 2011, and is prohibited from re-entry until Sept. 15, 2014,” Hsu said.
Asked if Helmdach was placed on the border control list for his participation in the anti-nuclear demonstration, Hsu said there is no problem with foreigners taking part in legally approved demonstrations.
“The problem is that he took part in two demonstrations, one was legal, one was illegal, thus he was in violation of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法),” Hsu said.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS