The controversial deportation of 14 Taiwanese by the Philippines to China showed the extent of pressure Beijing could bring to bear on the country, and is indicative of a possibility that the Philippines could be the first country along the first “island chain barrier” that China could break, a government official said yesterday.
“China could exert unimaginable pressure on Manila because it has several billions of US dollars in loans and foreign aid in the country,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Hopefully the case might be a chance for the Philippines to pay more attention to its relationship with Taiwan and realize the nature of its relationship with China, he said, referring to the protest Taipei lodged with Manila.
“The relationship between Taiwan and the Philippines is bound to be hurt because of the incident,” he said.
The Philippines deported 14 Taiwanese and 10 Chinese — suspected of being part of an international fraud ring targeting Chinese — on a Chinese charter flight that departed Manila after midnight on Wednesday. The suspects were escorted of Chinese public security officers.
They had been arrested on Dec. 27 on fraud charges. The ring is estimated to have made about NT$600 million (US$20.6 million).
Taiwan’s representative office in Manila, the Economic and Cultural Office (TECO), had obtained a restraining order from the appeals court in Manila to block the deportation, but it went ahead.
The director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ department of treaty and legal affairs, Yang Kuo-tung (楊國棟), said the ministry had sought a retaining order after its initial request for the Taiwanese to be returned to Taiwan was rejected.
That the deportation was carried out even though the case was under judicial review showed the pressure for the deportation came from Philippine President Benito Aquino III’s administration, Yang said.
The Philippine government had no reason to deport the Taiwanese to China, since TECO had presented sufficient information before the deportation to prove the 14 were Taiwanese nationals, the anonymous official said.
“Although their passports were confiscated by the Chinese officers, who gave them Taiwanese compatriot travel documents (台胞證), this did not constitute a reason for them being deported to China,” the anonymous official said.
The Philippines Presidential Office had a provisional meeting on Tuesday, and was reportedly planning to issue a statement afterwards, the ministry said. However, the ministry had not received any information about the statement as of press time last night.
In related developments, Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Shou-huang (陳守煌) said the Ministry of Justice has contacted China’s Ministry of Public Security, and demanded the extradition of the Taiwanese to Taiwan as soon as possible.
The Chinese ministry said it would look into the matter after the Lunar New Year holiday, Chen said.
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
MORE RESPONSIBILITY: Draftees would be expected to fight alongside professional soldiers, likely requiring the transformation of some training brigades into combat units The armed forces are to start incorporating new conscripts into combined arms brigades this year to enhance combat readiness, the Executive Yuan’s latest policy report said. The new policy would affect Taiwanese men entering the military for their compulsory service, which was extended to one year under reforms by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2022. The conscripts would be trained to operate machine guns, uncrewed aerial vehicles, anti-tank guided missile launchers and Stinger air defense systems, the report said, adding that the basic training would be lengthened to eight weeks. After basic training, conscripts would be sorted into infantry battalions that would take
GROWING AMBITIONS: The scale and tempo of the operations show that the Strait has become the core theater for China to expand its security interests, the report said Chinese military aircraft incursions around Taiwan have surged nearly 15-fold over the past five years, according to a report released yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs. Sorties in the Taiwan Strait were previously irregular, totaling 380 in 2020, but have since evolved into routine operations, the report showed. “This demonstrates that the Taiwan Strait has become both the starting point and testing ground for Beijing’s expansionist ambitions,” it said. Driven by military expansionism, China is systematically pursuing actions aimed at altering the regional “status quo,” the department said, adding that Taiwan represents the most critical link in China’s
‘REALLY PROUD’: Nvidia would not be possible without Taiwan, Huang said, adding that TSMC would be increasing its capacity by 100 percent Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday praised and lightly cajoled his major Taiwanese suppliers to produce more to help power strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI), capping a visit to the country of his birth, where he has been mobbed by adoring fans at every step. Speaking at an impromptu press conference in the rain outside a Taipei restaurant, where he had hosted suppliers for a “trillion-dollar dinner,” named after the market capitalization of those firms attending, Huang said this would be another good year for business. “TSMC needs to work very hard this year because I need a lot
RSS