Premier Simon Chang (張善政) has vowed to look into overseas telecommunication fraud cases involving Taiwanese suspects and Chinese victims and said that he hopes a systematic model can be established to deal with similar cases through negotiations with China, Executive Yuan spokesman Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said yesterday.
Chang made the remarks during an inter-ministerial meeting on how to manage similar cases after Malaysia on Friday deported 20 Taiwanese implicated in fraud to Taiwan following Kenya’s deportation of 45 Taiwanese to China over suspected telecom fraud.
There are also cases of Taiwanese suspected of transnational telecom fraud targeting Chinese victims being held by police in Indonesia, Egypt and South Korea.
Chang hopes a systematic model can be created through negotiations between Taiwan and China, Sun said.
Government agencies will send a delegation led by Ministry of Justice officials to China to discuss issues such as providing information and methodologies to facilitate investigations into such cases in the hope of improving cross-strait mechanisms for combating crime.
The small delegation — reportedly less than 10 people — is set to depart tomorrow to visit the 45 Taiwanese fraud suspects deported from Kenya and to discuss their release, Sun said.
China has claimed jurisdiction in the case because many of the victims were Chinese who reportedly lost millions of US dollars.
The justice ministry and the Ministry of the Interior’s Criminal Investigation Bureau will press China for evidence in the cases to facilitate Taiwan’s investigations, Sun said.
Chang has also asked government agencies to assess the feasibility of revising the law amid mounting calls for tougher punishment for fraud, according to Sun.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman An Fongshan (安峰山) on Saturday criticized Taiwan for releasing 20 fraud suspects a day after they were deported from Malaysia to Taiwan, citing a lack of evidence.
According to a statement on the office’s Web site, An said that Taiwan had “disregarded many victims’ interests and harmed them a second time” by releasing the suspects, and urged Taiwan to “immediately rectify its mistakes.”
Releasing the suspects harmed the years of cross-strait cooperation on criminal investigations, An said.
He also called on Taiwan to “prevent greater damage to the development of cross-strait relations.”
Additional reporting by AP
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS