Taiwan's deportation of the telecom fraud suspects was seen by mainland China as tolerance to crime. (Photo : Getty Images)
China’s state media aired another set of confessions from Taiwanese telecom fraud suspects who were deported from Kenya as a way of showing Taiwan’s lack of action in dealing with such crimes.
A report from Reuters depicted how the mainland brought another two Taiwanese suspects to public scrutiny by broadcasting their confessions over China Central Television (CCTV) on Monday.
According to the outlet, the broadcast of the confessions, the first of which was made in April, had been highly criticized internationally with some speculating that the admissions could have been made under duress.
Meanwhile, Taiwan expressed its dissent over how Malaysia deported 32 Taiwanese nationals suspected of fraud to China, calling for a more comprehensive cooperation between the island and the mainland.
"A mechanism of full communication and cooperation between Taiwan and China is needed to address challenges regarding telecom fraud schemes involving suspects and victims from both sides," Taiwan's Premier-designate Lin Chuan told Focus Taiwan.
The Suspects' Confessions
While the faces of the second batch of suspects who confessed were blurred out, the broadcast identified the suspects by their last names, Lin and Hsu.
Talking with heavy Taiwanese accents, the suspects admitted their guilt and expressed their regret at what they did, not because it was illegal but because they would be tried in the mainland.
"If I had known earlier that I would be tried in the mainland I wouldn't have done it. In the mainland I could get a life sentence," 37-year-old Hsu said.
Hsu was able to amass 200,000 yuan ($30,894) from the unlawful activity in Kenya.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the telecom fraud scam began in Taiwan around 2001.
Since then, losses on the fraudulent activities averaged to as much as $1,000 per case.
Shown in the footage below are the first set of confessions from the Taiwanese suspects.
Taiwan's Justice System
According to the state media, both Hsu and Lin were previously arrested and jailed in Taiwan but were released after a couple of months.
In fact, Lin said he wanted to be tried in his homeland since he expects the sentence to be lighter compared to what they will be facing in China.
"Of course I want to go back to Taiwan. Because it's closer to home and because the sentence will probably be quite light," Lin said.
While Taiwan's Ministry of Public Security did not respond to Reuters for comment, the outlet quoted their previous statement on China's broadcasting of the suspects' confessions.
"Before the suspects are judged to have committed a crime, the principle of presumption of innocence should apply," the council told Reuters in the statement.
