The trial of four Taiwanese men charged in the drowning deaths of six Chinese illegal immigrants they had been trying to smuggle into Taiwan opened yesterday in Miaoli District Court.
The men were trying to bring in 26 Chinese women on two speedboats in late August when their vessels were spotted by National Coast Guard Administration boats. They threw the women overboard after the coast guard began a pursuit.
"Prosecutors are seeking death sentences for two of the men because their boat was far from shore when the women were thrown overboard," a spokesman for the Miaoli District Court said by telephone.
Three of the surviving women appeared in court as witnesses for the prosecution, wearing bulletproof vests and helmets. Police said the women have been threatened by smuggling gangs.
The women, from Fujian Province, reportedly paid NT$200,000 (US$5,800) each to be smuggled into Taiwan.
In related news, academics have warned the government must pay greater heed to social friction which might arise from an increasing number of Chinese workers in Taiwan and rising unemployment.
Lin Hsiang-kai (
Lin said the government must pay attention to the costs society might have to pay should a larger number of Chinese people be allowed to work in this country because of the structural unemployment that exists here.
According to Lin, civil servants, police and military officers, top white-collar executives, high-tech professionals and students are less affected by the increasing number of Chinese workers.
Lin Wan-i (林萬億), a professor of social services at NTU, said elderly unskilled workers with limited educational backgrounds are the most threatened by the entry of Chinese workers.
There are estimated to be more than 50,000 Chinese working in Taiwan, including fishermen, spouses and relatives of Taiwanese and illegal migrants, Lin Wan-i said, noting that a vast majority are employed in high-risk and labor-intensive sectors.
The survey of 1,062 residents over the age of 20 was carried out by the Focus Survey Research Corp between Oct. 21 and 22.
Just over 57 percent of res-pondents said that direct transport links would undermine national security, while 49.6 percent believe it would help economic development.
About 65 percent thought that China is hostile toward Taiwan.
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