The China Post
Date: July 26, 2017
By: The Phnom Penh Post/ANN

Officials raid a network of 31 Chinese and Taiwanese suspected extortionists last week. Taiwan has demanded the seven Taiwanese suspects not be deported to mainland China. (The Phnom Penh Post/ANN)

PHNOM PENH — Seven Taiwanese nationals will be deported to China alongside 24 Chinese nationals despite efforts by Taiwanese officials to have them repatriated to the island, a Cambodian immigration police official said yesterday.

The group was arrested in Phnom Penh last week for allegedly working to scam Chinese citizens through a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, and Sok Phal, chief of the Interior Ministry’s Immigration Department, said they will be sent to China on Saturday.

“We don’t know whether they will then be sent to Taiwan,” Phal said of the seven, adding he had not been contacted by Taiwanese authorities but that the Chinese government said all were citizens of the mainland.

Wang Dexin, head of the political office at the Chinese Embassy, said any decision to send the seven to Taiwan would be up to Beijing, which considers the island non-independent.    [FULL  STORY]