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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Prosecutors indict man who sailed from China
A Chinese man illegally entered Taichung Harbor on a rubber dingy in April. Photo: Courtesy of Taichung District Prosecutors Office. Copied by Chang Jui-chen, Liberty Times
TRESPASSER: Prosecutors charged the Chinese man with contravening the Immigration Act, and he could face up to three years in prison if found guilty
/ Staff writer, with CNA
Taichung prosecutors yesterday indicted a Chinese man who entered Taichung Harbor on a rubber dinghy in April, claiming to have sailed from China in pursuit of “freedom and democracy.”
The 34-year-old man, surnamed Zhou （周）, has been charged with contravening the Immigration Act （入出國及移民法）, and could face up to three years in prison or a fine of up to NT$90,000, or both, if found guilty, the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Zhou is being held at the National Immigration Agency’s detention center in Nantou, which is run by the Central Taiwan Administration Corps, they said.
Taichung Harbor Police picked up Zhou from a dyke in the harbor just before midnight on April 30, the office said in the indictment.
During questioning, the man told police that he was yearning for a life of freedom in Taiwan.
He said he had set sail at about 10:30am from China’s Fujian Province on a rubber dinghy fitted with an outboard motor, along with 90 liters of fuel.
Sailing across the Taiwan Strait, he landed in Taichung Harbor and went ashore at 9:30pm, he said, telling police that he was not a fugitive with a criminal record, the indictment said.
Navy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Chiang Cheng-kuo （蔣正國） has said that a small vessel like a rubber dinghy could travel undetected for most of the way across the Strait, as it would not be detected by the navy’s land or ship-based radar systems.
However, closer to the shore, coast guard radars could easily detect such small boats, Chiang told lawmakers in May during a legislative hearing on national security.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
