The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday lodged a protest with Manila, threatening to re-examine bilateral relations after Philippine authorities allegedly ignored the ministry’s request not to send 14 Taiwanese suspected of involvement in an international fraud ring to stand trial in China.
The ministry said the Philippine government had violated legal procedures and international law by deporting the 14 Taiwanese to China.
“We are firmly against such an act and will re-examine all exchanges between the two countries,” the ministry said in a statement.
It said Manila’s National Bureau of Investigation and Beijing’s Ministry of Public Security had formed a joint task force and arrested 14 Taiwanese and 10 Chinese suspected of international racketeering during a raid in Manila on Dec. 27.
The ring’s victims are believed to be Chinese, with the gang netting NT$600 million (US$20.6 million) from their swindles. Beijing asked Manila to extradite all 24 suspects to China in accordance with an extradition treaty signed between the two countries in 2001, the ministry statement said.
The ministry’s representative to the Philippines has visited the 14 Taiwanese several times after learning of the extradition and firmly requested Manila return them to Taiwan for trial, it said.
The ministry has summoned Antonio Basilio, the representative of the Philippines in Taiwan, and his deputy, Carlo Aquino, twice to express its position.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in the Philippines had obtained a restraining order from the appeals court in Manila in an attempt to block the deportation and request the release of the Taiwanese. Nevertheless, Manila deported all 24 suspects to China yesterday, the ministry said.
In addition to lodging a strong protest with the Philippine government, the ministry said Representative to the Philippines Donald Lee (李傳通) had written a letter to Philippine President Benigno Aquino III.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Shen Ssu-tsun (沈斯淳) also summoned Carlo Aquino yesterday morning to lodge a protest and notify him that the ministry would re-examine all exchanges with the Philippines.
The ministry has also notified the Ministry of Justice and the Mainland Affairs Council in the hopes that they could ask Beijing to repatriate the 14 Taiwanese to Taiwan. Taipei and Beijing signed the Cross-Strait Agreement on Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance in June 2009.
Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) told the Taipei Times that the justice ministry and Straits Exchange Foundation contacted their Chinese counterparts yesterday, requesting the Taiwanese be sent back to Taiwan for trial.
Liu declined to comment on Manila’s actions, saying it was the foreign ministry’s jurisdiction.
The Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei declined yesterday to comment on the issue
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
CAUTION: Taiwanese should be alert, even if they have just liked or shared posts that would breach Beijing’s national security legislation for Hong Kong, the council said Due to the newly implemented Hong Kong national security legislation, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has drawn up a list of what it described as “high-risk groups,” cautioning them not to travel to Hong Kong. People who support independence for Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang; those who are critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Hong Kong government and the “one country, two systems” concept; and those who donated to or voiced support for the Hong Kong anti-extradition bill movement are urged to refrain from visiting Hong Kong, the council said on its Web site. It released two posts on
HONG KONG SECURITY: The president blasted regulations requiring Taiwanese agents or political organizations to provide information on their Hong Kong-related activities President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday warned of countermeasures should controversial Chinese national security legislation imposed on Hong Kong undermine or harm Taiwanese interests. Article 43 of the legislation empowers the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to serve written notices to Taiwanese political organizations or individual agents to furnish information on their Hong Kong-related activities, including their personal particulars, finances, assets, expenditure and capital in the territory. Failure to comply or providing false or incomplete information can result in a fine of HK$100,000 (US$12,903) or imprisonment of six months or two years respectively. Tsai said that Taiwan would keep a close watch on how
NEW HONG KONG LAW: A visit to Beijing-friendly nations or those with weak judicial systems could leave people at risk of deportation to China, a former MAC official said Beijing could request countries with which it has extradition agreements to deport Taiwanese to China to face criminal charges following the implementation of national security legislation for Hong Kong, a former Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official warned yesterday. Some developing countries, and those close to China because of the Belt and Road Initiative, are likely to accommodate Beijing’s requests to extradite Taiwanese to China, said former deputy MAC minister Chen Ming-chi (陳明祺), who served from July 2, 2018, until May 20, and then returned to his former post as an assistant professor of sociology at National Tsing Hua University. While Taiwanese
MORAL COURAGE: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the global community to face China’s intention to subdue Taiwan and reject such irrational requests The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday strongly condemned the Chinese government for meddling with US officials’ interactions with Taiwan after FBI Director Christopher Wray revealed China’s efforts to discourage US officials from visiting Taiwan. The greatest long-term threat to the US’ information security and intellectual property, as well as its economic vitality, is China’s counterintelligence and economic espionage operations, Wray told a video event at the Hudson Institute in Washington. Beijing is engaged in a highly sophisticated and maligning foreign influence campaign, with methods that include bribery, blackmail and covert deals, he said. Giving an example, Wray said that when a US official
RSS