The government has asked Beijing to provide information on Chinese fraud victims so that it can return more than NT$200 million (US$6.58 million) seized in Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said on Thursday.
Chinese authorities have yet to respond, Chiu said, adding that the Ministry of Justice would continue its efforts to establish contact.
The ministry on Wednesday said that the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office asked local prosecutors’ offices to list all cases involving the defrauding of Chinese and said the money seized from suspects amounted to more than NT$200 million.
The ministry later asked for judicial assistance from Beijing in accordance with 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).
Department of International and Cross-Strait Legal Affairs head Tsai Chiu-ming (蔡秋明) called for the two sides to hold talks to devise a “method to return the illicit money,” as Taiwan’s legal methods for returning money are different from China’s.
Tsai said that Taiwan cannot remit money directly to an individual’s bank account and has to send it to an account provided by the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, which transfers the funds to fraud victims.
Since April 2014, when Taiwan first returned money defrauded from Chinese victims, it has returned a total of NT$18.17 million, Tsai said.
The failure of Beijing to respond is another sign of the chill in cross-strait relations.
Cross-strait ties have stalled since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in May last year, replacing her Beijing-friendly predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Tsai has also refused to heed Beijing’s calls to acknowledge the so-called “1992 consensus.”
The “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Beijing that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
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