A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator yesterday warned of a growing threat of Chinese infiltration, citing a 60-fold jump in the number of Chinese visitors entering Taiwan using altered or falsified documents.
DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said that based on the National Immigration Agency’s records, the number of Chinese entering Taiwan using altered and falsified documents rose from nine in 2012 to 76 last year and further to 535 in the first half of this year.
Chen said the increase in Chinese criminal activity could be an attempt to swing November’s seven-in-one elections in favor of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Identification documents modified or changed included proof of work and bank savings attestations, the agency’s records show.
Chen said that Taiwan has strict limits on the number of Chinese citizens from select cities that can apply for entry as free independent travelers (FIT) in Taiwan; the rest have to show documents to prove that they are either businesspeople, professionals or people seeking aesthetic medical services.
However, with the elections scheduled this year, there has been an explosion in the number of falsified documents, Chen said, adding that this suggested that the Beijing government was systematically trying to get as many people as possible into Taiwan through the loopholes.
Chen added that the agency records showed that there were 2,362 Chinese citizens who had overstayed their visas, but only 49 were arrested. Moreover, a notice on the agency’s Web site showed that it could not find 306 Chinese citizens who had disappeared.
The discrepancy in numbers and the low number of arrests suggest dereliction of duty on the part of the agency, Chen said.
Several agency officials have been arrested recently for allegedly helping foreign women arriving in Taiwan under arranged marriages to find employment at a massage shop in New Taipei City, he added.
Chen called on national security agencies to investigate the matter.
He added that National Security Council Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) should focus on this issue, instead of using intelligence agencies to spy on rival political parties, or over-reaching his authority with his visits to agencies such as the Investigation Bureau, the National Police Agency, the National Immigration Agency, the Coast Guard Administration and the military police.
In response, the NIA said it had convened agency officials earlier this year to investigate the surge in the number of cases involving falsified and altered identification documents, and found the source to be “certain groups” operating on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
The groups have found this to be a lucrative business and have set up networks on both sides of the Strait to facilitate the dispersal of falsified documents among Chinese who visit Taiwan as businesspeople, professionals or people seeking aesthetic medical services, the agency said.
These visitors had come here posing as tourists while engaging in activities that were not within the purview of their visas, the agency said.
Three cases of Candida auris, a fungus that can cause a yeast infection known as candidiasis in humans, have been reported in Taiwan over the past few years, but they did not display drug resistance, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said yesterday. Lo made the statement at a news conference in Taipei, one day after the Washington Post reported that the potentially deadly fungus is spreading in US hospitals. The fungus was first discovered in Japan in 2009 and poses a danger to immunocompromised people, with an estimated mortality rate of 30 to 60 percent, Lo
‘DIRE’: Taiwan would not engage in ‘dollar diplomacy,’ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, after China reportedly offered Honduras up to US$3 billion to establish relations The government yesterday recalled its ambassador to Honduras after the Central American nation sent its foreign minister to China, signaling that it would sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Suspicions concerning ties with Honduras are rife after Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Tuesday last week wrote on Twitter that her country would pursue diplomatic ties with China. Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina traveled to China on Wednesday “to promote efforts for the establishment of diplomatic relations” on instructions from Castro, Reuters yesterday quoted Honduran presidential spokesman Ivis Alvarado as saying. The government “has decided to immediately recall the ambassador to Honduras
SWITCH TO BEIJING: The government severed diplomatic relations about an hour after Honduras announced the move, saying that no semi-official ties would be maintained Taiwan severed diplomatic ties with Honduras and ended all cooperation with the Central American country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, about an hour and a half after the Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Twitter at 8am Taiwan time that the nation would cut its ties with Taiwan. Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Wednesday sent Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina to Beijing to negotiate the establishment of diplomatic relations. She announced the plan on March 14 on Twitter. “To safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and dignity, Taiwan is terminating diplomatic ties with Honduras with immediate effect” after communication with
MEDIA, SOCIETY FOCUS: Doublethink Lab said that Beijing is trying to coerce countries that rely on China economically to pursue policies in its favor China has stronger influence over Taiwan’s media and society than any other country, the Taipei-based Doublethink Lab think tank said yesterday, as it announced its China Index gauging Beijing’s global influence. Taiwan ranked 11th overall among 82 countries assessed, but first in terms of social and media influence, Doublethink Lab chairman Puma Shen (沈伯洋) told a news conference in Taipei. More than 200 experts and academics participated in the project, including some highly influential figures, Shen said. The index collects information from countries worldwide to gauge China’s influence and assess how Chinese policies affect them, Shen said. In terms of Chinese
RSS