The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) last week launched a multicity raid of eight technology companies with alleged links to China that are believed to have hired staff illegally in Taiwan.
A total of 112 investigators were dispatched from Monday to Thursday to search 25 locations in Taipei, New Taipei City, Hsinchu city and county, Chiayi County and Taichung, during which 48 people associated with the targeted companies were summoned for questioning, the bureau said on Friday.
The companies allegedly faked business registrations, posing as branch offices of overseas firms with foreign or Taiwanese investment capital, and allegedly hired personnel without authorization, it said.
Photo copied by Wang Ting-chuan, Taipei Times
The companies operate in fields such as database management software research and development (R&D), memory modules, digital integrated circuit design, solid-state drive controller chip design, 5G communication module product R&D, semiconductors and other high-tech businesses, it added.
The enterprises are being investigated on suspicion of contravening 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 bureau said.
Local media reports said that two of the companies are Fuzhou Sinoregal and Quectel Wireless Solutions, which is headquartered in Shanghai.
On Tuesday, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Fuzhou Sinoregal is registered legally in Taiwan as Feig Science and Technology Development (Taiwan) Co, but is not allowed to recruit R&D staff without approval from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Since 2016, the company has reportedly contracted a Taiwanese firm to hire R&D employees on its behalf, it said.
Investigators have found that Chinese government-funded companies set up shop in Taiwan posing as foreign investors to poach local tech engineers, with some of the workers apparently bringing with them trade secrets from previous employers, the bureau said.
These companies are often small offices where local-based hires work remotely, the bureau said, adding that the firms often set up two offices in Taiwan, so that if one is shut down, the other can continue to operate.
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