A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator and the New Power Party (NPP) caucus yesterday panned China over its refusal to release information concerning 20 Taiwanese fraud suspects who were deported from Malaysia, which resulted in their release immediately upon arrival in Taiwan.
Twenty of the 52 Taiwanese arrested in Malaysia last month on suspicion of telephone fraud returned to Taiwan on Friday evening, after Taiwanese authorities spent the day discussing the case with Malaysia and China to try to prevent the Malaysian authorities from deporting them to China.
“The 20 people who were deported to Taiwan last night [Friday] were sent back to Taiwan because Malaysia believes they were not seriously involved in telephone fraud. Neither Chinese or Malaysian police gave Taiwanese officials any documents,” DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said on Facebook.
“When they were sent to the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office, the prosecutor released them because nothing but an interrogation transcript from Malaysian police was given to Taiwanese authorities,” Tuan said.
Tuan said that when Criminal Investigation Bureau officials arrived at the airport on Friday night to meet the Taiwanese suspects, they were surprised to learn that no documents related to the case were sent.
Officers immediately contacted their Malaysian counterparts and were told that all documents and evidence were in the hands of Chinese authorities, Tuan said, adding that when they contacted Chinese authorities, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security turned down the request.
Tuan said that according to an agreement reached by Taiwan and China in 2011, when Taiwanese or Chinese are deported for crimes committed in a third country, any evidence is to be sent with the suspects on deportation.
The NPP caucus yesterday issued a statement applauding the nation’s representatives abroad for successfully preventing Taiwanese in Malaysia from being deported to China.
“We deeply regret that the relevant evidence has been sent to China, the lack of which has left our law enforcement agencies powerless to conduct an investigation into the case and thereby aggravated the negative image that fraudsters get away easily” in Taiwan, the statement said.
“We would like to call on the People’s Republic of China that, as a responsible member of the international community and for the shared objective of fighting crimes, it immediately stop the malicious behavior of forcibly deporting Taiwanese and withholding evidence that would paralyze the judiciary of our nation and result in Taiwanese loss of confidence in the rule of law,” the statement said.
Additional reporting by Alison Hsiao
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
Taiwan is to extend its visa-waiver program for Philippine passport holders for another year, starting on Aug. 1, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Friday. Lin made the announcement during a reception in Taipei marking the 127th anniversary of Philippine independence and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The decision reflected Taiwan’s commitment to deepening exchanges with the Philippines, the statement cited Lin as saying, adding that it was a key partner under the New Southbound Policy launched in 2016. Lin also expressed hope
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
RSS