The Control Yuan has released a report documenting the incidents of Vietnamese nationals who may have perished in attempted human smuggling incidents. The report released Friday was spurred in part by an incident last year in which a large number of bodies were discovered washing up on Taiwan’s shores. Between February 27 and April 7, 2023, 24 bodies were found floating near the shores of Taiwan, 10 of which were identified to be Vietnamese nationals. The incident led to an investigation by the Control Yuan.
The report found that a total of 14 of the floating bodies were identified as Vietnamese nationals. It was also discovered that 13 of the Vietnamese nationals had previously been cited for violations such as overstaying their visas, working illegally, or were migrant workers who had been reported as missing. It is believed that the individuals perished while attempting to return to Taiwan as part of human smuggling operations.
Control Yuan Member Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) says the reasons the migrants had attempted to return to Taiwan include attempts to reunite with relatives, maintain romantic relationships, or in some cases to repay owed debts. However, she says the core issue is an imbalance in Taiwan’s labor market.
Up until now, Yeh says, the various government departments have not come to a consensus on how to deal with issues of immigration and smuggling. Yeh adds that she has asked the Cabinet to coordinate and communicate with all relevant departments so that they can maintain a coherent policy.
Yeh says the government needs to pay more attention to issues including human smuggling and human trafficking, which can lead to the labor and sexual exploitation of both migrants and nationals.