The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday lauded the Czech government for providing “subsidiary protection” to eight Taiwanese fraud suspects detained in Prague, instead of deporting them to China as requested by Beijing.
Subsidiary protection is an international protection given to a non-EU national or a stateless person who does not qualify as a refugee and might face the risk of suffering serious harm if returned to their country of origin, according to the EU’s Web site.
“We commend and appreciate the position of the Czech government, which showed moral courage and pragmatism in protecting the human rights of Taiwanese, and refusing China’s [extradition] request,” ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said.
It is the ministry’s obligation to protect the basic human and legal rights of Taiwanese when they face problems abroad, and the government would do all it can to help the suspects and have them returned home for legal proceedings, he said.
The suspects were in January last year arrested in Prague on an Interpol red notice. Beijing has accused them of posing as Chinese police officers and prosecutors to defraud Chinese nationals in their home country by telephone.
A Czech court last fall agreed to extradite them to China on Beijing’s pledge that they would face a fair trial and not be given the death penalty.
However, Czech Minister of the Interior Jan Hamacek on Monday said on Twitter that the suspects would be given subsidiary protection.
The Czech government feared for the safety of the suspects out of concern that they could face inhumane treatment or capital punishment if they were deported to China, the Czech News Agency reported.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
RSS