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
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
RSS