TAIWANESE IDENTITY:Having an independently elected government should be enough and declaring independence would be a dead-end, President Ma said
Taipei Times
Date: Apr 22, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said that the controversial deportation of
President Ma Ying-jeou, right, shakes hands with a member of a visiting Canadian delegation at the Presidential Office yesterday. Photo: CNA
several Taiwanese nationals from Kenya to China earlier this month has no bearing on sovereignty, but is a problem stemming from division of labor.
In an interview with the Singaporean newspaper the Straits Time at his office in Taipei on Tuesday, Ma said his administration was not happy with Beijing’s opaque handling of the case and its failure to consult with Taipei prior to the deportation from Kenya to China of 45 Taiwanese accused of telecom fraud on April 8 and April 12.
“However, technically, this incident is not a matter of sovereignty, but rather a matter of division of labor,” Ma said, adding that, in his opinion, Taiwan and China share concurrent jurisdiction over the case.
Ma said that under the 2009 Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement (海峽兩岸共同打擊犯罪及司法互助協議), when facing cases such as the Kenyan incident, both Taipei and Beijing are required to negotiate with each other first before deciding which side should take over the case or if both sides should deal with it jointly. [FULL STORY]
