Taiwan yesterday lodged a formal protest against Malaysia for deporting 32 Taiwanese fraud suspects to China.
Executive Yuan spokesman Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said the 32 people were taken to China earlier yesterday aboard a plane sent by Beijing.
Presidential Office spokesman Charles Chen (陳以信) said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), hoping to ensure the rights of the 32 Taiwanese, directed Premier Simon Chang (張善政) to convene meetings with Cabinet members and send a delegation to collect evidence and clarify details of the case.
Photo: CNA
The Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Justice have been directed to communicate with China in a timely fashion, Chen added.
The 32 people deported to China yesterday were among a group of 52 Taiwanese who were arrested in Malaysia last month on suspicion of telecommunications fraud targeting people in China.
Twenty other Taiwanese suspects were sent back to Taiwan on April 15 at Taipei’s request.
However, controversy erupted as the 20 were released shortly after returning to Taiwan.
Authorities said the group were allowed to go free due to a lack of evidence that they had engaged in illegal activities overseas.
On Thursday last week, 18 of the 20 were detained after prosecutors won a case saying that there was strong evidence against the group.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said the release of the 20 suspects upon their arrival in Taiwan has been cited by China as evidence of Taiwan’s “light treatment of fraud suspects” in its argument used to pressure Kuala Lumpur to deport the remaining 32 to China.
The ministry said it has lodged a protest with Malaysia over the matter, saying: “The move has severely harmed amicable ties.”
Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson Wang Ming-sheng (王閔生) yesterday condemned the move, saying it was a breach of Taiwan’s jurisdiction over its people.
Yesterday’s case followed a similar incident earlier last month when a group of Taiwanese, acquitted by a Kenyan court of operating telecoms equipment without a license, were forced to board an airplane bound for China.
The Ministry of Justice yesterday said it contacted China’s Ministry of Public Security as soon as it learned Friday that Malaysia was planning to send the 32 Taiwanese to China.
The ministry pointed out that during their last negotiations in Beijing April 21, the two sides reached several understandings, including jointly investigating the telecommunications fraud cases uncovered in Kenya and Malaysia.
It added it is currently discussing with China the possibility of sending a second delegation to Beijing to negotiate over the case.
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
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
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
RSS