Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Javier Hou (侯清山) yesterday said the ministry takes a positive view of an apology issued by the Malaysian prime minister’s special envoy to east Asia Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing over his nation’s deportation of 32 Taiwanese fraud suspects to Beijing.
“Tiong made the apology yesterday [Sunday] and said he was also astonished by such a procedure. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs feels positively about Tiong’s remarks,” Hou said on the sidelines of a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee in Taipei.
Hou was responding to media queries regarding Tiong’s remarks, made in an interview with the Central News Agency in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, during which the Malaysian politician said it is customary for his government to deport foreign suspects to their home nations.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Tiong said in the interview that he had no prior knowledge of the deportation of the 32 Taiwanese to China on Saturday and that he was “astonished and disappointed” by the incident.
He then apologized and pledged to help rectify the situation in his capacity as the prime minister’s special envoy to East Asia.
The 32 Taiwanese were among a group of 52 Taiwanese arrested in Malaysia last month on suspicion of participating in a telecoms fraud.
The other 20 suspects were sent back to Taiwan on April 15 at Taipei’s request, but were released shortly afterward due to a lack of evidence.
Nevertheless, prosecutors on April 21 detained 18 of the suspects incommunicado and restricted the remaining two suspects from leaving the nation.
Turning to the government’s deployment of two patrol vessels on Sunday on a month-long mission to protect Taiwanese fishermen operating in international waters near the Okinotori atoll, Hou said the government would continue to try to handle situations at sea with discretion and to prevent them from escalating into conflicts.
“We urge both parties to resort to peaceful means to address the issue,” Hou said.
Asked how the two patrol boats would respond in the event of an attack from Japanese coast guard vessels, such as by water cannons, Hou said he would not answer hypothetical questions and reiterated his hopes for a peaceful resolution.
The deployment of the two patrol vessels came amid growing tensions between Taipei and Tokyo over the latter’s confiscation of a Taiwanese fishing boat, the Tung Sheng Chi No. 16, about 150 nautical miles (277.8km) east-southeast of the uninhabited atoll on Monday last week.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS