Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.”
The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said.
The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a man near the estuary.
Photo copied by Wu Jen-chieh, Taipei Times
Its personnel arrived at the scene at about 6:50am, pulled the man ashore at about 7am and sent him to hospital, as he was severely dehydrated, the CGA said.
The man, surnamed Wang (王), was quoted by the CGA as saying that he had set sail from Niuweitang Beach in Ningbo, China, to flee from debt and “seek freedom” in Taiwan.
Chinese nationals may not enter Taiwan without permission from Taiwanese authorities as stipulated in Article 10 of 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 MAC said.
Those who enter or exit Taiwan without permission may be sentenced to prison for up to five years or fined up to NT$500,000, as required by Article 74 of the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法), it said.
The CGA is handling the case and Wang has been transferred to judicial authorities for further investigation, it added.
The CGA said human error was not responsible for yesterday’s incident, as its radar system was not capable of detecting the rubber boat.
The boat was very small — 3.6m in length — and was made of rubber and drifting on the sea, so it could not have been detected without infrared thermographic cameras, it said.
To boost its detection capacity, it would install more monitoring devices such as thermal cameras, and obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and advanced vessels, the CGA said.
New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said the case was the second such incident in three months and the central government should take action.
He was referring to a previous incident in June when a Chinese retired sea captain, 60, surnamed Ruan (阮), drove a motorboat into a harbor at the mouth of a river leading to Taipei, claiming he was “escaping to democracy.”
People who admire Taiwan’s freedom and democracy are welcome to enter the nation via legal routes, Hou said while urging the central government to beware of illegal entries like yesterday’s incident and determine whether these are a new type of threat.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) said that incidents like this have occurred a dozen times in Taiwan proper and its outlying islands, so the possibility of China applying “gray zone” tactics in the waters cannot be excluded.
Although the radar’s inability to detect the rubber boat delayed the authorities’ response, other systems such as thermographic devices can be used and should be installed as soon as possible, Shen said.
Regardless of the incidents involving Chinese nationals defecting or being Beijing’s “gray zone” maneuvers, Taiwan should be seriously prepared for risks, he added.
Additional reporting by Chen Cheng-yu, Chiu Chun-fu and CNA
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