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.
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