Voice of America
Date: April 13, 2016
By: Ralph Jennings
TAIPEI—
A top Taiwanese official on Wednesday said Taipei may send a delegation to
FILE – A Chinese national flag flutters in front of the Shanghai’s No. 1 People’s Intermediate Court in Shanghai, China.
Beijing to learn more about a fraud trial involving some 45 Taiwanese nationals who were deported from Kenya and sent to mainland China against their wishes.
Taipei has accused China of abducting the group, which faced accusations in Kenya of committing telecommunications fraud. Analysts say Beijing may be trying to force the soon-to-be ruling party in Taiwan to start a friendly dialogue with mainland China, rather than veering toward stronger self-rule, which goes against Beijing’s wishes.
“For this kind of case, I must say that we will try to get our citizens back [to Taipei] for trial,” Andrew Hsia, who heads the island’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), told VOA’s Mandarin Service. “But China will contend, too, since the victims are already over there. So both sides will coordinate on the basis of judiciary assistance.”
Hsia also said there used to be cross-strait cooperation and a tacit understanding between the two sides in dealing with similar cases. If mainland China thinks a sentence for fraud in Taiwan is not heavy enough, he said, there would be room for discussion. [FULL STORY]