The Bureau of Immigration kicked a visiting group of Chinese out of Taiwan on Tuesday because the group refused to carry out their scheduled activity, government officials said yesterday.
The group from the China Notaries' Association (CNA), which arrived in Taiwan on Nov. 11, was scheduled to meet with officials from the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), Taiwan's semi-official organization handling cross-strait affairs, on Nov. 12.
But, for unknown reasons, the group kept delaying the meeting, said Yen Wan-ching (
By law, visiting groups or individuals from China have to abide by their schedules submitted before their arrival in Taiwan.
If they want to alter minor parts of their schedules, they must contact related government agencies in Taiwan.
Their main schedules cannot change, said Jeff Yang (楊家駿), director of the Mainland Affairs Council's (MAC) Legal Affairs Department.
If the Chinese visitors are found to be not following their schedules, the government has the right to force them to leave, Yang said.
Yen said the SEF decided to report the case to the MAC and the Bureau of Immigration after requests to the Chinese group to meet with SEF officials for talks about cross-strait notarization problems failed.
The two government agencies decided to oust the Chinese group, saying their activities in Taiwan had deviated from the stated purpose of their visit.
Upon departure at the CKS International Airport, Wang Fujia (
The group's original itinerary had them leaving on Saturday.
Wang claimed the meeting with the SEF was not on their schedule.
"Moreover, we were not authorized to talk to the SEF concerning cross-strait notarization problems," Wang said.
Wang said although his group was forced to leave Taiwan earlier than planned, he hoped the association's communication with the SEF would continue.
But Yen said Wang's claim was "different from the truth." According to Yen, the SEF's meeting with the group was supposed to take place the day after their arrival in Taiwan.
The notaries' association acts as the SEF's counterpart in China in terms of attesting or certifying cross-strait documents to make them legally valid.
Currently, 13 types of documents, such as birth and degree certificates and marriage credentials, that Taiwanese people intend to send to China have to undergo the authorization procedure.
Chinese people wishing to send documents to Taiwan must go through the same procedure.
Yen said the scheduled meeting with the visiting CNA members was crucial as China has recently destroyed the stamps on certain documents that bear Taiwan's official national title.
"The rights of people in China and in Taiwan will be damaged if these document-authorization problems remain unsolved," Yen said.
The notaries' association has visited Taiwan three times. In its previous two trips, members visited the SEF.
"But this time there was no contact between the SEF and the group at all," Yen said.
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