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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS