Crime in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

ranges from food adulteration, bombing, assassination attempts,

hostage crisis A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized, such as a relative, employer, law enforcement or government to act, or refr ...

, murder etc. However, crime statistics show that crime rates in Taiwan are among the lowest in the world, and are relatively low compared to much of the developed world.

Law enforcement agencies

ROC-MOI-NPA Criminal Investigation Bureau 20160723

The

National Police Agency National Police may refer to the national police forces of several countries: *Afghanistan: Afghan National Police *Haiti: Haitian National Police *Colombia: National Police of Colombia *Cuba: Cuban National Police *East Timor: National Police of ...

is the top law enforcement body in Taiwan with its subordinate

Criminal Investigation Bureau The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB; ) is the agency of National Police Agency under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of China. History The modern criminal police system of the Republic of China was originally established in 1946 ...

List of notable crimes

Assassination attempts

* President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu assassination attempt on 19 March 2004 * Presidential Office Building Truck Attack on 25 January 2014

Bombing

* Taiwan McDonald's bombings on 28-29 April 1992

Hostage crisis

Alexander family hostage crisis On the evening of 18 November 1997, South African military attaché McGill Alexander and his family were taken hostage for approximately twenty-one hours by wanted fugitive in their home in Taipei, Taiwan. Chen forcibly entered the Alexanders' h ...

on 18 November 1997

Murder

* Nantou shooting on 21 September 1959 * Murder of

Peng Wan-ru Peng Wan-ru (; 13 July 1949 – 30 November 1996), also spelled Peng Wan-ju, was a feminist Taiwanese politician. The director of the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) Women's Affairs Department, Peng advocated for the safety and development ...

on 30 November 1996 *

Murder of Pai Hsiao-yen Pai Hsiao-yen (; 23 June 1980 – 20 April 1997) was the only daughter of popular Taiwanese TV host and actress Pai Bing-bing and Japanese author Ikki Kajiwara. Abduction, murder, and island-wide manhunt Abduction Pai Hsiao-yen disappeared a ...

on 20 April 1997 * Murder of Weng Chi-nan on 28 May 2010 * Taipei Metro attack on 21 May 2014

Human trafficking

Sex trafficking

Taiwanese and foreign women and girls are sex trafficked in Taiwan. They are raped and harmed in brothels, hotel rooms, and other locations throughout the country.

Illegal drugs

Marijuana

Marijuana is criminalized in Taiwan with strict penalties for possession, production, and distribution. Knowledge about marijuana within Taiwan’s legal system is minimal with Judges and Prosecutors often misunderstanding or lacking an understanding of basic concepts surrounding its production and consumption.

Forced labor

Fishing industry

Taiwan's overseas fishing fleet has been criticized for a history of abuse and a lack of protection for migrant laborers, often from

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

. Official Taiwanese sources put the number of foreign workers aboard Taiwanese vessels at 26,000 but NGOs and US government agencies put the figure around 160,000. Foreign fishermen frequently report non-payment, long work hours, and verbal and physical abuse at the hands of their captains and officers, who are often Taiwanese. In recent years Taiwan has made significant progress on the issue, but abuse remains widespread. In terms of

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

the distant waters fishing fleet lags far behind the rest of Taiwanese industry. A 2020 Greenpeace investigation found Taiwanese vessels in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. They also found significant evidence of the abuse of foreign laborers. They also documented Taiwanese fishing companies using

flags of convenience Flag of convenience (FOC) is a business practice whereby a ship's owners register a merchant ship in a ship register of a country other than that of the ship's owners, and the ship flies the civil ensign of that country, called the flag stat ...

to obscure vessel ownership as well as unreported at sea transfers of fish. Taiwanese fisheries conglomerate FCF was specifically singled out for criticism for links to

illegal fishing Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) is an issue around the world. Fishing industry observers believe IUU occurs in most fisheries, and accounts for up to 30% of total catches in some important fisheries. Illegal fishing takes ...

and

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

. In October 2020 the

US Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemplo ...

added the Taiwanese distant waters fleet's products to its list of goods produced by child or forced labor. In May 2021 the

Control Yuan The Control Yuan is the supervisory and auditory branch of the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Prior to constitutional reforms in the 1990s, the Control Yuan, along with National Assembly (electoral college) and the Legislati ...

ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Labor, and the Fisheries Agency to address the issue and heavily criticized their lack of action.

References

{{Crime in Asia