A Chinese man rescued about 100m off the coast of New Taipei City last year after purportedly making a nearly five-day open-sea crossing in a rubber dinghy to “seek freedom” has been charged with illegally entering Taiwan.
In an indictment issued on Jan. 9, the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office said that the Chinese man, 32, identified by his surname, Wang (王), called Taiwan’s 119 emergency number after his dinghy ran aground near the Shantou coast in Linkou District (林口) at about 6am on Sept. 14.
After being rescued, Wang told coast guard personnel that he had sailed to Taiwan “to seek freedom,” prosecutors said.
Photo: CNA
As Wang admitted to entering Taiwan without legal permission, he was indicted for breaching the Immigration Act (入出國及移民法) and 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), they said.
Prosecutors said that Wang set sail at about 9am on Sept. 9 from Taizhou in China’s Zhejiang Province.
Based on evidence collected from communications devices, Wang is believed to have bought all equipment and the rubber boat from Taobao, including 10 solar charging panels and 10 oil barrels, which he used on his five-day sailing to Taiwan, they added.
In addition, wind charts were found on Wang’s phone, as well as Internet searches and screenshots of sea and weather conditions across Taiwan on the night of Sept. 8, prosecutors said.
Wang is being held incommunicado, prosecutors said.
Those who enter or exit Taiwan without permission could be sentenced to up to five years in prison or fined up to NT$500,000 based on the Immigration Act.
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