The Control Yuan yesterday launched an investigation into the alleged sex trade in Taipei’s “teahouses,” as the establishments draw greater attention after they were linked to a cluster of COVID-19 infections in Wanhua District (萬華).
Control Yuan member Lin Kuo-ming (林國明) said that local officials have been negligent in addressing the matter, after teahouses, known as “A-gong diam” (阿公店) in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), were shown to be the center of a COVID-19 cluster.
There are more than 100 such establishments in Wanhua, but most are registered as restaurants or eateries, despite employing hostesses to accompany customers for drinking, chatting and other services, which clearly fall outside of their designated business, Lin said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“As local authorities have not cracked down on such contraventions, a probe will be launched into the matter,” Lin said.
Although the teahouses along Wanhua’s streets and alleys are among the nation’s most famous, there are similar businesses on a smaller scale in other cities and towns.
In the past few years, officials have said that there has been an increase in the number of women from foreign countries such as China and Vietnam working as hostesses in teahouses, some of which provide sexual services.
Many are undocumented after entering the country on a working contract that they then breach or as part of a false marriage scheme, police said.
Former Taipei City councilor Tung Chung-yen (童仲彥), an advocate for the legalization of prostitution, has said that the Taipei City Government should establish a legal “red light” district in Wanhua, to regulate sex work and protect workers.
Such a district would also better safeguard public health during an epidemic, Tung said.
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