Twelve Taiwanese were among 40 foreign nationals detained by Indonesian authorities last week for alleged telecom fraud in Central Java’s capital, Semarang, the Taipei Economic and Trade Office in Jakarta said yesterday.
The office said that 11 of the 40 suspects held Taiwanese passports, while another is believed to be Taiwanese, but was unable to produce a Taiwanese passport.
The rest of the suspects are Chinese nationals, the office added.
The Indonesian Directorate-General of Immigration on Saturday notified the office of Thursday’s arrests and Representative to Indonesia John Chen (陳忠) yesterday sent officials to Semarang to verify the identities of those arrested, it said.
The Indonesian immigration office yesterday presented the suspects to the media, as well as the devices seized during a raid, which included computers and cellphones.
The Taiwanese are being detained at the immigration office in Semarang, the office said, adding that they are in good health.
Members of the fraud ring called people in China allegedly posing as police officers, prosecutors, judges or government officials from anti-money laundering agencies, directing them to transfer their money to a “safe account.”
The office said that it is negotiating with Indonesian authorities for the Taiwanese to be repatriated to Taiwan, rather than being deported to China.
Over the past few years, jurisdiction over Taiwanese suspects has become a tug-of-war between Taiwan and China, creating a headache for host countries.
In the case of Indonesia, some Taiwanese suspects have been deported to China and some to Taiwan, the office said.
In July 2017, Indonesian police coordinated with China to apprehend 143 telecom fraud suspects, including 22 Taiwanese, of whom 18 were later turned over to Beijing.
One month later, office personnel went to a police station when the Indonesian government was about to deport the remaining four Taiwanese to China.
They convinced the authorities to apply the principle of nationality and had them sent to Taipei.
‘CORNERED ENEMY’: China’s rise is threatening peace and stability, and the US would aim to restrict it with help from allies in the Asia-Pacific, Soong Hseik-wen said A draft bill on protecting Taiwan from invasion is likely to be passed by the US Congress, but it remains to be seen how US President Joe Biden’s administration would implement the act if it is passed, Taiwanese academics said on Sunday. US Senator Rick Scott and US Representative Guy Reschenthaler on Thursday reintroduced the proposed Taiwan Invasion Prevention Act, which was shelved in September last year due to the impending US presidential election. Arthur Ding (丁樹範), a professor at National Chengchi University’s College of International Affairs, and Soong Hseik-wen (宋學文), a professor at National Chung Cheng University’s Graduate Institute
CHANGING IT UP: With Bopomofo rarely used outside of Taiwan, the lawmaker said that Romanization would help the government in its internationalization efforts Tainan City Councilor Lee Chi-wei (李啟維) yesterday called for the use of Romanized spellings to make Taiwanese dialects and languages internationally recognizable. Speaking at a news conference in Tainan to mark International Mother Language Day, Lee said the use of zhuyin fuhao (注音符號, Mandarin phonetic symbols commonly known as Bopomofo) made it difficult to promote interest in, or recognition of, the nation’s dialects and languages, as the system is not commonly used outside of Taiwan. “The legislature has already passed the Development of National Languages Act (國家語言發展法), but under the current circumstances that act is like a candle in the wind,” he
CULTURAL CAPITAL: Taiwanese can act as ambassadors while teaching in the US, by exchanging views with their colleagues and friends, one Mandarin teacher said Most US students take Chinese classes because they want to know more about China, but Taiwanese teachers can make a change with more flexible pedagogic approaches and cultural exchanges, two local teachers said. Since the US last year canceled its Fulbright programs with China and Hong Kong, Taiwan has been granted a larger quota of scholarships, including the Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Fulbright Program, which is funded by the US Department of State and comanaged in Taiwan by the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange. American Institute in Taiwan Director Brent Christensen last month encouraged Taiwan to fill the gap left by the closures
CHINESE AGGRESSION: The bill seeks to empower Taiwan by calling for a free-trade pact and authorizing the US president to use military force to defend Taiwan US Senator Rick Scott and US Representative Guy Reschenthaler on Thursday reintroduced in the US Congress the Taiwan invasion prevention act, aiming to boost Taiwan’s ability to resist Chinese aggression. While the bill was introduced last year by Scott and former US representative Ted Yoho, it was not listed onto the formal agenda in the run-up to the US presidential election in November last year. “We can’t sit back and let Communist China continue to threaten our democratic ally Taiwan,” Scott, a Republican, wrote on Twitter, urging US President Joe Biden and other Democractic senators to “take a stand for democracy” and
RSS