A Chinese family of three who were seeking political asylum in Taiwan have been redirected to another country that could provide them with the safety they were pursuing, the National Immigration Agency’s Border Affairs Corps said on Thursday.
The family includes a woman, with the name Deng Liting (鄧麗婷) on her Chinese passport, and has a popular following on the social media platform X, the corps told the Central News Agency.
Deng and her family recently entered Taiwan as transit passengers, and upon arrival made a request to be redirected to a Western country. They also asked about Taiwan’s political asylum laws and their prospects for staying in Taiwan, the corps said.
Photo: Tony Yao, Taipei Times
However, the three family members were unable to board a transfer flight to a Western country, as they did not have the required visas, the corps said.
As Taiwan has no laws to protect asylum seekers or regulations governing the handling of refugees, the corps arranged for the family to be redirected to another country, with their consent, it said.
In that undisclosed country, the family would have a chance to obtain the safety they are seeking, the corps added.
Taiwan’s handling of the matter did not contravene the UN’s Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or its principle of non-refoulement, the corp said.
Meanwhile, Deng posted on X about her family’s efforts to seek asylum, saying on Tuesday that they had landed safely in Taiwan.
In an X post, she apologized to the Taiwanese public for creating a difficult situation.
Deng said she and her family had decided to take their chances in Taiwan, although they were aware that its laws do not cover refugees seeking political asylum.
After the family fled China, they went to Thailand and then to Singapore, seeking asylum, but to no avail, Deng said, adding that they had no choice but to try Taiwan next.
Deng said she has been persecuted in China and was at risk of severe punishment, which could have collaterally involved her young son.
Deng on Thursday posted on X that before her family arrived in Taiwan, they had applied for political asylum in Canada.
However, even with the help of the Ireland-based human rights organization Front Line Defenders, the asylum process could take six months to a year, she added.
She also said Taiwan has no obligation to her family and urged her followers not to hold Taiwan “hostage emotionally.”
The case of the Deng family was the third attempt in the past year by Chinese to seek political asylum in Taiwan.
A Chinese dissident, Chen Siming (陳思明), in September last year refused to return to China after his flight from Thailand made a transit stop in Taiwan.
He spent almost two weeks living in the transit area of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport before he was eventually granted political asylum in Canada.
In February, three Chinese asylum seekers, who arrived in Taiwan from Malaysia, were sent back, as they could not present proper travel documents, such as visas and permits.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS