A thorough investigation of more than 370,000 military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers identified two people with Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said on Friday.
Chiu made the remarks in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times), adding that the first stage of the investigation focused on agencies’ military personnel and civil servants and public-school teachers, and the scope would be expanded in following stages.
Taiwanese are prohibited from applying for or holding a Chinese passport, otherwise their Taiwanese citizenship would be revoked, according to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例), he said.
Photo: Reuters
Chinese citizens are prohibited from working as military personnel, civil servants or public-school teachers, he said.
The investigation scoured the Presidential Office, the Ministry of National Defense and its affiliated units, the 52 administrative agencies of the five branches of the government and 209 public schools at all levels in the first stage, he said.
Of the 373,821 investigated people required to sign an affidavit, 371,203 people, or 99.3 percent, have complied, he said.
That demonstrated strong public support for the investigation, he said, thanking all military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers.
Two people were found to have a Chinese ID card and 75 hold a Chinese residence permit, and the government would set up a scheme to help them annul their Chinese citizenship, he said.
Chiu warned against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Yu-jen’s (陳玉珍) and other KMT legislators’ proposal of amending the Offshore Islands Development Act (離島建設條例) to set up a “free-trade zone” in Kinmen County.
Setting up a free-trade zone in Kinmen was put forward as early as during former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, but it has not been implemented given the implications, Chiu said.
There are concerns that such a trade zone would become a hotbed of illicit transshipment of Chinese products as the US-China tariff and trade war is escalating, he said.
To prevent Kinmen or Lienchiang (Matsu) counties from being exploited for illicit transshipment of freight or small packages, the government would need to monitor whether there is a surge in the number of packages delivered by international shipping or through the “small three links,” he said.
The “small three links” refer to commercial, transportation and postal exchanges between Taiwan’s outlying islands and China’s Fujian Province.
The MAC would discuss the issue with authorities in Kinmen and Matsu and clamp down on illicit transshipments, Chiu said, adding that the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Affairs have tightened regulations on Chinese packages transported to the US.
A “made in Taiwan” policy is being developed to implement a series of tight checks in customs to ensure that the nation would not be exploited, he said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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