Taipei, Nov. 7 (CNA) The number of Chinese stowaways detained in Taiwan has dropped to 45, the lowest number in the past decade, officials of the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said Friday. The decline proves that the agreement signed between Taiwan and China in April 26 to jointly crack down on crime and to offer mutual legal assistance has been effective, the officials said.
The NIA's detention centers in Yilan, Hsinchu and Nantou once held thousands of stowaways from China, but the number has been falling over the past few years.
The NIA attributed the drop in numbers to Taiwan's expansion of its policy on Chinese tourists, saying that Chinese citizens wishing to enter Taiwan no longer have to risk their lives on fishing boats across the Taiwan Strait.
Now they can apply for a tourist entry permit for Taiwan, NIA officials said, adding that the agency has put in place measures to prevent Chinese tourists in Taiwan from absconding.
The NIA said it shipped 35 Chinese stowaways -- 22 males and 13 females -- back to the China mainland Friday aboard the "Hai Hsia." The remaining 45 detainees cannot yet be repatriated because they are all involved in judicial cases that are still pending, the NIA said.
(By Lin Shen-hsu & Elizabeth Hsu)
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