Monday, July 31, 2000
New appeal on illegal
immigrants
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Taiwan has written to Beijing asking that it repatriate hundreds of
illegal immigrants after its previous plea apparently was brushed
aside, an official said yesterday.
The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) wrote to its mainland
counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait
(ARATS) on Saturday, an SEF official said. A similar plea on June 23
had elicited no response.
"Through the Red Cross societies of the two sides, the ARATS has
arranged only two shipments for Chinese illegal immigrants since
August 5," he said. The repatriation process slowed after Lee
Teng-hui, then Taiwan's president, said in July last year that the
island's relationship with China should be on a "special
state-to-state" basis, sparking a furious reaction from Beijing,
which regards Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting
reunification.
Beijing's inaction over repatriation has led to repeated
disruptions at detention centres after inmates became frustrated,
usually at traditional holiday-time.
Taiwan said it had spent more than NT$600 million (HK$149
million) during the past decade on feeding and housing 38,000
mainland illegal immigrants. |
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