The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) issued a strong protest yesterday after Cambodia deported 18 Taiwanese telecommunications fraud suspects to China.
“The MOFA expresses deep dissatisfaction with the way the Cambodian government has dealt with the matter and has instructed our representative office in Ho Chi Minh City to convey our serious concern and deep regret [to Cambodia],” it said in a statement.
Liang Guang-chung (梁光中), director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, said in a telephone interview that Cambodia handed over the 18 Taiwanese to China, despite efforts he had made in Phnom Penh since arriving there on June 17.
He said the Taiwanese suspects were put on a China Eastern Airlines flight bound for Wenzhou.
The suspects were arrested in Cambodia over the course of last week.
Cambodian police first arrested 13 Taiwanese and 14 Chinese nationals on Monday last week on suspicion of operating a telecom extortion ring to defraud people in China.
Another four Taiwanese were arrested on similar charges on Saturday last week at Phnom Penh International Airport as they were about to return to Taiwan. Eight more suspects, including one Taiwanese, were arrested by Cambodian police on Sunday.
The Taiwanese were deported to China yesterday, a Cambodian police officer said.
“The Chinese plane just took off from the Phnom Penh airport with the suspects,” Cambodian immigration officer Uk Heisela told reporters.
“Chinese police came with the plane. Each suspect was escorted by two Chinese police,” said the officer, adding that a total of 90 Chinese officers arrived to oversee the hand-off.
Cambodia, one of Beijing’s closest allies in Southeast Asia, refuses to differentiate between Taiwan and China, simply referring to people from the former as “island Chinese.”
Observers said that the deportation cases are part of an effort by Beijing to put pressure on the government that took office last month.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has repeatedly pledged to maintain the cross-strait “status quo,” but she also has not bowed to pressure to accept the so-called “1992 consensus” favored by Beijing as the definition of cross-strait relations.
The “1992 consensus” refers to a supposed understanding reached during cross-strait talks in 1992 that both Taiwan and China acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what that means.
In 2006, former Mainland Affairs Council minister Su Chi (蘇起) admitted he made up the term “1992 consensus” in 2000, before the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) handed power to the Democratic Progressive Party.
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