A group of Taiwanese fraud suspects deported from Malaysia to China have confessed and are to be tried in China, Chinese authorities said, despite demands that they face justice at home.
The expulsion of the 32 suspects from Malaysia last month came after another group of Taiwanese fraud suspects were sent to China from Kenya, a move described by some lawmakers as “abduction.”
The deportations are seen by observers as a means of exerting pressure on president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who takes office on Friday and has a far more skeptical approach to relations with Beijing.
The government has insisted its nationals face investigation and trial in Taiwan, while Beijing says it wants to try the suspects deported from Malaysia in China because they were part of a telecommunications fraud ring that targeted Chinese victims.
The Chinese Ministry of Public Security said they would undergo proceedings under the “mainland judiciary.”
“The 32 Taiwanese suspects confessed to committing fraud and have been detained according to the law,” Chinese police said, Xinhua news agency reported.
However, the government insisted the case is still under investigation.
“Both sides are working together,” Ministry of Justice Department of International and Cross-Strait Legal Affairs Director-General Chen Wen-chi (陳文琪) said.
Chen, who led a delegation to meet Chinese police and discuss the case over the weekend, said the location of the suspects’ trial would be “negotiated at a later time.”
The Xinhua report quoted a 72-year-old cancer patient who was allegedly tricked into depositing 2 million yuan (US$152,835) into a “safety account” as part of the fraud scheme.
“This is my medical savings and I have been cheated,” said the woman, surnamed Guo.
“I hope Taiwan will hand these crooks over to the mainland so they can be punished by law,” she added.
Twenty other Taiwanese suspects arrested in the Malaysia were deported back to Taiwan last month and are under investigation.
Chinese state media has also reported previously that the suspects deported from Kenya have admitted their guilt and are to be tried in China.
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