Nightclubs located in an area of Toufen Township (頭份), Miaoli County, described in a local media report as a red-light district, had legal licenses and were regularly checked by police officers, the Miaoli County Police Bureau said.
The bureau was responding to a report in the Chinese-language Apple Daily, which said the Houzhuang (後庄) area had effectively become a 50,000 ping (165,000m2) red-light district occupied by nightclubs, KTV venues and pubs that offer sex, along with illegal gaming arcades.
According to the report, local police tolerated the existence of the establishments — which often had hostesses that drank with guests — and did not conduct regular checks on them.
The director of the county police bureau’s Toufen branch, Chen Chia-ming (陳家銘), said the report was “false.”
“Our colleagues are doing the best they can [to clamp down on any illegal establishments],” he said.
He said ongoing efforts to control the area had resulted in a reduction in the number of nightclubs and gaming arcades from 60 in 2000 to 18 this year. Those that remain all have proper licenses, he added.
Based on the bureau’s records from July until last month, Chen said police officers had conducted 125 checks of nightclubs and gaming arcades in the area.
As to whether Miaoli County would consider setting up a designated red-light district as allowed under the amended Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which took effect on Sunday, Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) said: “Miaoli is a rustic and simple place. We won’t consider the idea.”
Under the amended law, local governments can decide to -establish special districts where sex work would be legal.
Any transactions in the sex trade conducted outside these zones will result in a fine of up to NT$30,000 for both the sex worker and their customer.
This currently means anybody engaging in the trade in places such as Houzhuang are at risk of being fined.
Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said the government would boost awareness of the amended law in the three months after it takes effect, but he made it clear that there would not be a grace period for those found violating the law.
First-time violators will be fined up to NT$6,000, second-time violators will face a maximum fine of NT$12,000, while those who violate the law for a third time will face a fine of up to NT$30,000, he said.
The penalty will apply to sex workers and their patrons, he said.
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