Taipei - Three Chinese dissidents staged a hunger strike in front of the Presidential Office building in Taipei on Wednesday to demand the right to live and work in Taiwan.

"We do this all because we want the government here to help us resolve our problem and grant us resident status," said Cai Lujun, who boarded a fishing boat to sneak into Taiwan illegally half a year ago.

The three were driven away by police, who told them that it is illegal to stage protests within 300 meters of the Presidential Office.

Cai and another dissident Wu Yalin later returned to a small park in front of the Presidential Office to continue their hunger strike, saying under Taiwanese law, there was no need to apply for permission to stage protest as long as there were only two people.

In an open letter to the press, the two and another dissident Chen Rongli said they would stage the hunger strike until after Taiwan government agrees to grant them resident status, which would allow them to live and work on the island.

"We have served jail terms ranging from three to nine years in China for opposing China's totalitarian rule and have finally come to Taiwan, and yet we cannot work here because Taiwan has not given us the resident status," they said in the letter.

"Without residence, we cannot work, go to school, enjoy medicare, open a bank account or apply for driver's license. We live in free Taiwan but have no freedom and no dignity," they noted.

The trio arrived in Taiwan separately in the past few years to avoid further political persecution in China after they were released from prison. Taiwan promised to help them seek asylum in a third country, but has not found a recipient country yet.

Jonathan Liu, vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), Taiwan's top China policy planning body, said Taiwan does not have a political refugee law, giving it no legal basis to accept asylum seekers.

"We have drafted this bill, which is still pending review by the legislature. Before enactment of such a law, it would be unlikely we can grant them the resident status," Liu said.

Currently Taiwan accepts Chinese defectors on a case-by-case basis and prefers to send them to a third country to avoid annoying China. (dpa)