Taiwan's deportation of the telecom fraud suspects was seen by mainland China as tolerance to crime. (Photo : Getty Images)
Diplomats from Taipei headed to Beijing for talks regarding two separate telecom scams, one of which led to the deportation of more than 40 Taiwanese nationals from Kenya.
On Wednesday, a delegation from the island traveled to the mainland to convince China to "collaborate" with them in solving the telecom scam case that involved 45 Taiwanese citizens, Focus Taiwan reported.
Last week, Taiwan was enraged when Kenya "forcibly" deported 45 Taiwanese nationals who were caught and linked to a telecom scam in the country.
Why Kenya Deported the Suspects to China
Kenya discovered a group of fraudsters operating outside the capital city of Nairobi.
Since they were Taiwanese nationals, they should have been deported to their home island, according to Taiwan's reasoning.
However, Kenya does not have official ties with Taiwan and does not see the island as a separate nation from China, according to Reuters.
As a matter of fact, Kenya considers the island a part of the so-called "one China," which is why the country chose to deport all of the people suspected of fraud including 32 Chinese and 45 Taiwanese on Wednesday last week.
Citing China's security ministry, Reuters said that the Taiwanese suspects were "falsely presenting themselves as law enforcement officers to extort money from people on the Chinese mainland through telephone calls."
Because their victims were mostly Chinese, they should be prosecuted in the mainland, per the Ministry of Public Security.
The Taiwanese Delegates' Goal
According to Reuters, Taiwan hopes to get involved in the trial of the telecom scam suspects because China's judicial system has been widely criticized in the island.
"The Chinese judicial system is in question for many people in Taiwan. They are wondering if those people can get a fair trial in China," Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party legislator Lo Chih-cheng told the outlet.
Because of this, Taiwan sent a group of 10 diplomats headed by the director of the Department of International and Cross-Strait Legal Affairs of Taiwan's Ministry of Justice, Chen Wen-chi.
According to Chen, Taiwan hopes to convince China to cooperate with their proposed joint investigation of the criminal activities that involved their citizens without sacrificing their human rights.
"We also hope to help set a precedent for the two sides to deal with similar cases in the future," she added during an interview with the press prior to their departure from the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Last week, the Taiwanese government gained support from the United States who had been following the case because one of the suspected fraudsters sent to China was also a U.S. citizen.
"We encourage Beijing to engage with Taipei to resolve this issue on the basis of dignity and respect," urged Anna Richey-Allen, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department.
