The detention of Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) in Thailand raised concerns that Taiwanese who travel abroad could face deportation to China for advocating independence, civil campaigners said yesterday at a Legislative Yuan hearing.
“Even though [Wong] was deported back to Hong Kong, we are concerned that the day will come when activists will be sent to China, particularly a Taiwanese could be deported to China from a foreign nation on the basis of violating China’s ‘Anti-Secession’ Law,” said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女), who chaired the hearing sponsored by the Legislative Yuan’s Parliamentary Cross-Party Group on International Human Rights, Taiwan Association for Human Rights and the Economic Democracy Union.
The jurisdiction of Chinese courts over Taiwanese has been a contentious issue following Kenya’s extradition of Taiwanese implicated in telecommunications fraud to China earlier this year. In a separate fraud case in Malaysia, Taiwanese authorities fought to secure several suspects’ extradition to Taiwan, only to see them released on arrival for lack of evidence.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“To a certain degree, China has forced Taiwan’s legal system into making seemingly unjust decisions by not giving us sufficient evidence or only letting us extradite minor suspects, while they take the main ones. This creates the impression that Taiwan’s legal system is powerless to tackle this type of crime,” Taiwan Association for Human Rights executive committee member Lee Chia-wen (李佳玟) said, adding that addressing extradition issues has become more difficult since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office, which preceded a cooling of cross-strait ties.
Lee said that claims of jurisdiction over fraud cases should be based on the destination of money transfers rather than the suspects’ nationalities in a bid to establish a clear legal claim to jurisdiction.
“Besides protesting against the extraditions, the Executive Yuan and Legislative Yuan should consider including human rights considerations in deciding whether to execute the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement (海峽兩岸共同打擊犯罪及司法互助協議),” Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said, adding that Ministry of Justice guidelines do not mention human rights.
He cited a lack of judicial independence, forced confessions, admission of illegally acquired evidence and other concerns as reasons to reject Chinese extradition requests on human rights grounds.
According to Ministry of Justice statistics, Taiwan has extradited 12 people to China since the agreement was signed in 2009, while China has extradited 462 people to Taiwan.
Bruce Chung (鍾鼎邦), a Falun Gong practitioner, said that he was allowed to contact his relatives after being detained during a 2012 trip to China only after beginning a hunger strike.
“No one knew that I had been detained. I was kidnapped and ‘evaporated,’” he said. “When I demanded to be allowed to notify my family and to be accompanied by a lawyer, they denied my requests on the basis of ‘national security.’”
Following an international outcry, Chung was released after 54 days in detention, but had to sign a “repentance statement” for allegedly helping Falun Gong activists hijack the signal of a Chinese television station in 2003.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
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