Taiwan should treat these people as compatriots rather than offenders, but at the same time they must be made to feel the game is not worth the candle, so that they won't want to come back another time. So there is a fine balance to maintain, and political realities across the Taiwan Strait mean that Taiwan cannot send deportees back by ship directly.
處理大陸客偷渡問題，的確是兩難。國防部長陳履安就曾形容，處理大陸偷渡客是「輕不得也重不得，寬不得也嚴不得」；既要把他們視為同胞而非罪犯，又要使他們感覺這一趟得不償失，而不願意再來。