Accusations have arisen that subsidies meant for veterans are being claimed illegally in China, as statistics show the average age of beneficiaries in China is much higher than in Taiwan.
The Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center reported an imbalance between veterans in China whose fingerprints were unidentifiable and 26 deaths of Taiwanese there discovered in 2012, suggesting that the veterans’ payments were being withdrawn by other people.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純) lambasted the Veterans Affairs Council, accusing it of severe dereliction of duty in the matter.
The council must investigate where the subsidies meant for veterans in China are going, Ho said, adding that the council must improve its means of identifying people to counter the use of fake fingerprints.
The council said it requests fingerprints from veterans living in China every six months, adding that if the prints are verified, it approves six month’s worth of funding.
If the prints are not sent in or unclear, the council sends staff to visit the veterans to verify that everything is in order, the council said.
The council said that some fingerprints submitted in 2012 were supposedly those of veterans who staff discovered were deceased after visiting their homes.
The prints were unidentifiable, sparking the visits, with 14 cases being investigated, it said.
The average rate of deaths among veterans in China is about 10 to 20 per month, the council said.
The council said it sends random fingerprints that passed its verification process to the Bureau of Investigation for confirmation.
The Budget Center’s report cited the council’s estimate for next year that each veteran will be entitled to NT$191,385 (US$6,219) per year in subsidies, with a monthly allotment of NT$14,150, 1.5 months worth of payments for the Chinese New Year period and NT$120 each for three holidays: Chinese New Year, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival.
Immediate family members of deceased veterans are eligible for NT$40,000 in burial subsidies, the report said.
Payments to veterans, including those who live in China, have been on the decline over the years as their numbers diminish, the center said.
In 2010, NT$520 million was paid, compared with NT$320 million last year, the center said, adding that subsidies handed out in the year to August total NT$270 million.
The report said that while the number of veterans is on the decline, the average age of veterans living in China is increasing.
There were 2,739 veterans receiving benefits from Taiwan in China in 2010 with an average age of 85.7, the report said, while a census conducted at the end of August showed that there were 1,466 veterans in China with an average age of 99.
There were 473 veterans aged over 90 in China, the report said, adding that 31 were more than 100 years old.
The census results showed a suspicious difference from the average age of veterans in Taiwan — 80.6 years old in the first half of the year — the center said, adding that life expectancy for males in Taiwan is 75.96 years, compared with 74 for Chinese males.
Ho said Taiwan’s living conditions and medical facilities are far superior to those in China, meaning that data showing that veterans live longer in China is reason to doubt the authenticity of the identities provided from across the Taiwan Strait.
Most of the veterans living in China are people who followed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to Taiwan in 1949, with the majority born in 1934, the council said, adding that their average age would be higher than for people applying for veteran status in Taiwan, which they can do at age 61.
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