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FITs could pose
security risk, DPP legislator says
THREAT: The DPP legislator said that the FIT
program should be implemented incrementally to ensure the policy doesn¡¦t become
a loophole in national security
By Chiu Yan-ling / Staff Reporter
Chinese ¡§free independent travelers¡¨ (FIT), who are expected to start arriving
in Taiwan next month, could pose a threat to national security and the safety of
the candidates in next year¡¦s elections, a legislator said yesterday.
Pointing to the expected arrival of 90,000 independent Chinese tourists by the
end of this year following the lifting of the ban on individual Chinese
travelers, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang--liang (½²·×·ã)
said the development could represent a serious security loophole.
The Tourism Bureau launched negotiations with Beijing about Chinese FITs in late
November last year and the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association and the
Cross-Strait Tourism Exchange Association have achieved an initial consensus on
FITs, with trial -operations focusing on tourists from selected Chinese cities.
However, Tsai Huang-liang said that based on recent comments by National
Security Bureau Director Tsai Der-sheng (½²±o³Ó), the bureau had evidently not
adopted national security measures to address the challenge posed by Chinese
FITs, adding that the bureau ¡§was not putting enough emphasis on national
security.¡¨
Tsai Der-sheng last week said during an inquiry at the legislature that he
worried the national security apparatus had insufficient manpower and financial
resources to handle Chinese FITs.
¡§The [President] Ma Ying-jeou (°¨^¤E) administration should make the necessary
assessments and implement security measures to ensure national security before
approving Chinese FITs,¡¨ Tsai Huang-liang said.
Even before the decision to open the door to Chinese FITs was made, the bureau
had already monitored several Chinese spies who were coming to Taiwan as
tourists or visiting academics, he said, adding that the situation would become
more serious once individual Chinese tourists are allowed in.
The bureau was unlikely to be able to monitor everything and the possibility
that the number of people who pose a security risk, but go unnoticed, could even
exceed the number of suspects who are kept under tabs, he said.
Therefore, the implementation of a Chinese FIT program should be done
incrementally, he said.
¡§[The Ma administration] should be longsighted in terms of national security and
must be active about it, or this will become a serious loophole in national
security,¡¨ Tsai Huang-liang said.
DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (¶À°¶õ) said there were two possibilities that had
made it impossible for the government to reinforce national security ahead of
the first arrivals of independent Chinese tourists.
One possibility was that the -bureau did not inform the Ma administration of the
dangers and only now that implementation is around the corner does the
government understand the risks, which shows a lack of foresight on the
government¡¦s part, Huang said.
Huang said a second possibility was that the bureau had warned the Ma
administration about the dangers, but the government decided to proceed anyway
and disregard national security in favor of increasing the number of tourists.
Huang said that regardless of the reason, Ma should take responsibility for his
decisions, adding that if the president made the decision purely to notch up
political achievements, this would be ¡§unforgivable.¡¨
During a presentation at the legislature¡¦s Foreign and National Defense
Committee on Thursday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Tsai Chin-lung
(½²ÀA¶©) referred to Chinese FITs as ¡§an army on the national border¡¨ that would be
difficult to manage in terms of national security.
TRANSLATED BY JAKE CHUNG, STAFF WRITER
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