The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday expressed regret over the Philippines’ decision to deport seven Taiwanese fraud suspects to China, the second such move in less than a year.
“With regard to the Philippine government’s forced deportation of seven Taiwanese nationals suspected of telecom fraud today [Tuesday], we express deep concerns and regret over the matter,” deputy spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a routine news conference in Taipei.
The ministry had been negotiating with Manila since 13 Taiwanese were arrested in October last year in the northern Philippines in connection with fraud allegations, asking it to handle Taiwanese cases in accordance with the nationality principle and the suspects’ preferences, and to deport them to Taiwan for further investigation.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
Despite the best efforts of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines, Manila chose to deport seven of the 13 to China in disregard of international customs and principles, as well as the suspects’ rights, Ou said.
The Philippines in April last year deported 78 Taiwanese telecom fraud suspects to China who had been among more than 150 foreigners arrested in January in Metro Manila and Ilocos Sur province by the Philippine cybercrime police.
While urging Taiwanese not to engage in illegal activities when abroad, Ou also called on Manila to strengthen bilateral anti-crime cooperation with Taipei to combat transnational crimes.
Under a memorandum of understanding on combating transnational crimes signed by the two countries in March 2017, the Philippines has extradited several Taiwanese fugitives, including former Tainan County council speaker Wu Chien-pao (吳健保) and Israeli-American Oren Shlomo Mayer.
The Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei yesterday said that its government “deemed it necessary to send the suspects to Beijing for trial” as most of the victims and evidence were in China.
Manila would continue to adhere to the international community’s efforts to stop transborder crime by ensuring that perpetrators are effectively prosecuted and that punishment is meted out, it said.
The remaining six Taiwanese are in custody in Manila, where they are to face trial, because they have committed other crimes in Manila, it added.
Several nations have chosen to abide by Beijing’s “one China” principle and deported more than 400 Taiwanese fraud suspects to China since April 2016, including Kenya, Armenia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
RSS