Chinese religious groups behave suspiciously: MAC

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said that a small minority of around 1,000 Chinese visitors, who obtain permission to visit the island for religious purposes each year, are breaking the island’s laws and terms of their visas.

For example, Chinese religious leaders who had applied to come to Taiwan for the purpose of religious music festivals had changed their stated plans at the last minute to engage in other activities.

“From this example, we have come to understand Mainland China still does not see religion purely as religion.

“Its attitude to religious exchanges with Taiwan still has a political connotation,” a statement from the MAC said.

While implying the activities were connected to China’s attitude to politics and religion, the council did not state the exact nature of these unscheduled activities.

Other religious groups who applied to come to Taiwan to hold a religious exhibition in one fixed location were later to take religious idols and travel all over the country, soliciting Taiwan followers and donations.

Religious groups and individuals visiting Taiwan were primarily Buddhist or Taoist, with China’s tight controls on Chinese Christians and its restrictions on them making contact with the outside world making Chinese Christian visitors to the island a rarity.

Meanwhile, an inter-ministerial body has suggested tougher and more sophisticated immigration controls to deal with the growing number of Taiwan marriages to Chinese and foreign nationals, the MAC said.

The task force, which has also received advice from scholars and other social organizations, has recommended that the government consider a Chinese population regulatory mechanism with an early warning system if population levels became too high.

The MAC is expected to research this further with other agencies in the Ministry of Interior, before the plan is approved by cabinet.

The government should also actively encourage business migration and integrate existing government immigration systems to create a data base to keep track of immigrants after they settled in Taiwan. This way the government could glean more real information on the situation of migrants in Taiwan and also crack down on illegal immigration.

The task force also recommended tighter controls on the nation’s cross-strait matchmaking businesses to crack down on marriages of convenience, upgrading social welfare systems and establishing guidance programs to assist immigrants settle in Taiwan cultural and economically.

MAC Vice-chairman Chiu Tai-san was quoted by the semi-official state-run Central News Agency as saying a system of face-to-face interviews for Chinese hoping to reside in Taiwan, which began September 1 2003, has been successful.

Over 27,000 mainland citizens have been interviewed upon arrival. Some 1,200 were found to be trying to enter Taiwan through marriages of convenience, Chiu said, and a further 15,000 had been deterred.

Chiu said over 200,000 Chinese spouses have been permitted to enter Taiwan for permanent settlement since 1987 when the policy was launched.

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