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
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
A Taiwanese man apologized on Friday after saying in a social media post that he worked with Australia to provide scouting reports on Taiwan’s team, enabling Australia’s victory in this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying it was a joke and that he did not hold any position with foreign teams or Taiwan’s sports training center. Chen Po-hao (陳柏豪) drew the rage of many Taiwan baseball fans when he posted online on Thursday night, claiming credit for Australia’s 3-0 win over Taiwan in the opening game for Pool C, saying he worked as a physical therapist with the national team and
RSS