Chinese citizens are paying fishermen to bring them illegally to Taiwan where they intentionally give themselves up for the sole purpose of receiving free medical treatment before being repatriated, the Hsinchu Detention Center reported yesterday.
One such case was a man from Fujian Province who told police who took him into custody that the trip across the Taiwan Strait was worth the 10,000 yuan [NT$2,000] that he had to pay the owner of the boat that ferried him since he knew he would be able to get adequate and free treatment for his chronic hepatitis.
A Chinese woman chose to sneak into Taiwan after complications from a breast-enhancement operation. After being taken into custody and sent to the Hsinchu Detention Center, she received a free mastectomy and was given time to heal before being repatriated.
A diabetic man admitted that he paid to be smuggled into Taiwan just for treatment. During the four months of his detention, he received two to four injections of insulin daily worth about NT$100,000.
Pregnant women are also secretly entering Taiwan to give birth, officials said.
According to the Hsinchu Detention Center, the organization has footed medical bills of about NT$20 million for illegal Chinese migrants since the center's inception 21 years ago.
In related news, a Matsu-based cargo ship capsized in rough seas on Wednesday while sailing home from China, Lienchiang County government officials reported yesterday.
The two crew members of the Ho Tai were rescued by a Fujian Province-based fishing vessel soon after the Matsu freighter capsized and sank, the officials said.
Skipper Wang Yung-hsing (
According to the officials, the Ho Tai departed Matsu on Wednesday morning for Huangqi Port to transport cargo from China.
Not long after the vessel set sail, it capsized in high seas, with the two men being thrown overboard.
The two were lucky enough to be spotted by a passing Chinese fishing boat which rescued them and brought them to China for treatment, the Matsu officials said.
The Matsu officials were informed of the entire situation only after Zhang Tianjin (
According to the Matsu officials, despite the absence of any laws across the Taiwan Strait governing how to deal with such accidents, people from the two sides have a tacit agreement on how to manage such incidents.
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