About 2,400 Taiwanese have been arrested overseas for alleged involvement in telecom fraud-related crimes since 2011, the Ministry of Justice said on Friday, rejecting media reports that as many as 4,500 Taiwanese have been apprehended in recent years.
About 2,000 Taiwanese fraud suspects have been deported to Taiwan from China and other nations since 2011, the ministry said in a statement.
However, Beijing this year began pressuring other countries to deport Taiwanese fraud suspects to China, instead of allowing them to be returned to Taiwan, the ministry said.
So far this year, 219 Taiwanese suspects were sent to China after they were arrested in other countries for alleged involvement in telecom fraud, the ministry said, adding that they were deported to China because of pressure from Beijing, which claimed that the main victims were Chinese and therefore the suspects should face trials in China.
About 150 Taiwanese fraud suspects remain detained in other countries, it added.
The statement was in response to local reports, which cited Spanish media as saying that Chinese authorities have participated in 47 raids around the world this year and arrested 7,700 fraud suspects, 4,500 of whom are Taiwanese.
In the latest such case, at least 39 Taiwanese were arrested for their alleged involvement in a telecom fraud ring in Spain, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Thursday.
In recent years, there have been a number of cases in which Taiwanese were arrested on charges of fraud in Southeast Asian countries — including Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines — as well as Kenya and Turkey.
The Ministry of Justice said it has formed a cross-agency platform as part of a concerted effort to combat cross-border fraud operations.
The government has strongly criticized Beijing for taking Taiwanese fraud suspects, but it has so far been unable to convince the Chinese government to repatriate them.
Relations between Taiwan and China have been strained since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in May. She has refused to heed Beijing’s calls to accept the so-called “1992 consensus” as the political foundation for the development of cross-strait exchanges.
The “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
RSS