Taiwan and China’s “war of words” continues to worsen after Taipei released 20 Taiwanese nationals accused of fraud, an action Beijing deemed as a show of the other country’s tolerance to crime.
According to Reuters, a group of Taiwanese suspects caught in Malaysia were deported back to their home country, a move that infuriated China as the people were allegedly involved in a telecom fraud linked to Beijing.
While it may appear an insignificant squabble, Time revealed that the issue of deportation reignited China and Taiwan's long-running conflict on the matter of jurisdiction.
Grappling the Telecom Fraud Suspects
Last week, the Global Times, China's state-run news agency, reported on how Malaysia repatriated 20 suspects from Taiwan who are linked to a telecom scam in Beijing.
According to the Xinhua News Agency, the case began when Malaysia arrested 119 people involved in the telecom scam, more than 65 are from the mainland and the remaining 52 from Taiwan.
At the time, Malaysia and China worked together to probe the five transnational telecommunication scam cases which victimized mainland residents.
BBC News said that the mainland wanted the suspects to be transferred to China because they victimized citizens of the country, but Taiwan claims they should be sent home since they were Taiwanese nationals.
Eventually, Malaysia deported 20 suspects back to Taiwan where they were immediately released.
China condemned the act, calling the move as a part of "Taiwan's twisted politics."
"By releasing the suspects, Taiwan authorities disregarded many victims' interests and harmed them a second time. It also harmed the two sides' cooperation in jointly cracking down on crimes," State Council Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson An Fengshan told the Xinhua News Agency.
According to him, Taiwan should "immediately rectify their mistakes, eliminate the adverse impact, seriously pursue these suspects' wrongdoings and give them the punishment they deserve."
A Matter of Sovereignty
The conflict between China and Taiwan rooted from the long-running claim of the mainland over their so-called "wayward province," per the Reuters report.
According to the Historical Dictionary of Taiwan, the leaf-shaped island was the biggest territory covered by the Republic of China.
However, residents of the island are constantly claiming independence from the mainland, something China called "hallucinations."
The statement from China emerged after Tsai Ing-wen became Taiwan's first female president, paving the way for her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to enter Taipei.
When she was declared the victor, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency immediately warned against pursuing independence from the mainland and called it a "poison" that would eventually cause the island to "perish," The Guardian reported.