The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday urged the Chinese authorities to protect the legal interests of a Taiwanese man who is being investigated in China for his alleged role in a fraud case.
China should observe the principle of presumption of innocence and respect the Taiwanese man’s legal rights during its investigation, the MAC said.
The statement came after China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) said in a news release that 22-year-old Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒) is being investigated in China for alleged fraud.
Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times
The TAO said the Chinese authorities would protect Kuo’s interests under the law, but it did not provide any details on the case or the actions he was allegedly involved in nor did they disclose where he was being held.
Kuo went missing after he arrived in Shanghai on Aug. 27, and his friends and relatives have not been able to make contact with him since then.
The MAC expressed dissatisfaction with the TAO as the Chinese agency did not disclose any information about Kuo’s situation until almost one month after he went missing.
The MAC also blamed the Chinese authorities for not informing the Taiwanese authorities that Kuo’s personal freedom had been restricted.
The TAO failed to provide information about Kuo’s situation until people in Taiwan expressed concerns about his safety, it said.
On Thursday last week, MAC Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said that Kuo went to China with his friends.
Kuo’s family reported him missing to police when they could not contact him, while Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation wrote a letter to its Chinese counterpart — the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits — amid concerns about his safety.
Kuo’s older sister on social media said her brother told his family he had arrived safely in Shanghai, but they were not able to make contact with him by phone or online messenger services after that.
Kuo’s sister added that she did not rule out the possibility that her brother was being defrauded or was simply arrested while he was just visiting.
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