Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and the Chinese government has no jurisdiction over Taiwanese nationals, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
The ministry was responding to a report by rights group Safeguard Defenders on Tuesday that said Beijing has pressured foreign governments to deport hundreds of Taiwanese to China.
More than 600 Taiwanese were extradited from numerous countries to China between 2016 and 2019 in an effort to “undermine Taiwanese sovereignty,” the report said.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
The ministry yesterday listed three rules when handling Taiwanese allegedly involved in telecommunications fraud in other nations.
First, the ministry and its representative offices in the countries in question confirm the number of Taiwanese involved, their names and other pertinent facts, while arranging to visit them in person, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a statement.
Second, while the government respects the jurisdictions of other countries, it aims to ensure Taiwanese involved in overseas cases can assert their rights during judicial investigations, she said.
Third, the government immediately asks the country to transfer Taiwanese suspects back to Taiwan for an investigation, she said.
The representative offices also contact the suspects’ families in Taiwan and offer assistance, such as providing a list of available lawyers, to protect their legal rights, she added.
Meanwhile, the Mainland Affairs Council said that Beijing aims to “show its sovereignty over Taiwan” by pushing for the deportations.
“We again [say to] the Chinese side that crime-fighting should not involve politics and we hope law enforcement units on both sides can continue to cooperate ... to effectively fight crime and protect public welfare,” it said in a statement.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “[we] appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
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TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe