Beijing yesterday rejected Taiwan’s protest over Cambodia handing over Taiwanese fraud suspects to Chinese authorities, saying for the first time that the cross-strait communications mechanism “has been suspended” since the new government took office in Taipei last month.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson An Fengshan (安峰山) made the remark while answering reporters’ questions about Taipei’s protest over Cambodia’s decision to accept Beijing’s demand and send Taiwanese telecommunications fraud suspects to China for prosecution.
The mechanism for contact and communication between China and Taiwan “has been suspended” since May 20, as Taipei has not recognized the so-called “1992 consensus,” which he said is the foundation for cross-strait relations that embodies the “one China” principle.
Photo: AFP/STR
Beijing has repeatedly said that the new government of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) must accept the “1992 consensus” for what it called the warm bilateral ties over the past eight years to continue.
The “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding reached during cross-strait talks in 1992 that both Taiwan and China acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what that means. In 2006, former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted he made up the term in 2000, before the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) handed power to the Democratic Progressive Party.
Efforts to fight telecom fraud and to protect the rights of victims have won the support of people in both China and Taiwan, An said.
He said that there were 25 Taiwanese in the group of 39 suspects sent to China on Friday, although earlier reports indicated that the group sent to Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province included 18 Taiwanese.
An’s comments came after the Mainland Affairs Council issued a statement on Friday voicing regret and protesting China’s failure to respect the appeal by Taiwan that no more Taiwanese suspects should be sent to China until the two sides can work out a set of principles on how to handle such issues.
Taipei has come under domestic pressure and has tried to prevent Taiwanese arrested overseas from being deported to China, although that pressure has eased after revelations that tens of thousands of Taiwanese, many of whom operate abroad to avoid detection, might be engaging in fraud targeting not only Chinese, but Taiwanese as well.
Dozens of Taiwanese fraud suspects were extradited from Kenya to China through Malaysia earlier this year, triggering an angry response.
As of press time last night, no response was available from the Mainland Affairs Council on An’s remarks.
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing