Two Taiwanese get suspended sentences in Chinese recruiting case

Taipei, Oct. 14 (CNA) Two Taiwanese have been given suspended sentences by the Hsinchu District Court after being found guilty of illegally recruiting personnel for a Chinese high-tech company in Taiwan.

According to recent court documents, the two individuals, identified by their last names Lin (林) and Huang (黃), each received a jail term of four months, suspended for two years, and were ordered to pay NT$150,000 (US$4,656).

The court found the two guilty of violating the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, which stipulates that Chinese companies or "third-area" subsidiaries are not allowed to "engage in business activities" in Taiwan unless permitted by the competent authorities.

Among the activities they cannot engage in under the provision are sales, R&D and recruiting activities.

Their sentences can still be appealed.

Both were hired by chip design company SmartSens Technology (Shanghai) Co., with Lin assuming the role of business development director while Huang was a senior operations manager, the court documents said.

Despite knowing that SmartSens was a Chinese tech company that cannot engage in business activities in Taiwan without permission from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the two still rented an office floor in Hsinshu County's Zhubei City on its behalf, the court documents said.

Over time, Lin and Huang recruited eight other people to form a sales team, whose salaries were paid through the Shanghai company's office in Hong Kong in order to avoid suspicion from Taiwanese authorities.

According to information on SmartSens' website, the company designs, develops and sells complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors for the security, automotive and other industries.