Taiwan bashes Cambodia for sending Taiwanese fraud suspects to China

Taipei, April 14 (CNA) Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has lodged a protest with Cambodia after the Southeast Asian country deported a group of recently arrested Taiwanese telecommunication fraud suspects to the People's Republic of China (PRC).

In a statement Monday, MOFA said a total of 180 Taiwanese fraud suspects were arrested recently in Cambodia and that some of them were deported to the PRC late Sunday and early Monday in three groups along with arrested Chinese fraud suspects.

It did not know, however, how many of those among the 180 were sent to the PRC in the past two days because the Cambodian government refused to provide a full list of those who were deported to China, it said.

MOFA accused the Cambodian government of bowing to Chinese pressure in not providing such information, while calling on Phnom Penh to recognize the error as soon as possible by providing Taipei a full list of those Taiwanese suspects repatriated to China.

The Taiwan government has expressed its serious concerns and lodged a strong protest to Cambodia over the deportation decision, MOFA said.

MOFA's statement was released after Cambodian media reported that the Taiwanese suspects, arrested on March 31 during raids of an online telecommunication fraud center in Phnom Penh, would soon be handed over to China as a goodwill gesture to Beijing.

The decision was also made ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's (習近平) upcoming visit to the Southeastern Asian country April 14-18, a source told CNA.

In its statement Monday, MOFA said that since learning of the arrests of Taiwanese suspects, its office in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City in charge of Cambodian affairs had urged the Cambodian government to repatriate the suspects back to Taiwan in recognition of national jurisdiction.

The Cambodian government, however, ignored Taiwan's appeals, it said.

Beyond protesting Cambodia's actions, MOFA said it asked the Ministry of Justice and the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) to negotiate the repatriation of Taiwanese suspects with the PRC through mechanisms established under the cross-strait agreement on joint crime-fighting and mutual judicial assistance.

MOFA also again called on Taiwanese nationals not to engage in illicit activities overseas.

According to MAC numbers, more than 600 Taiwanese people arrested overseas for their alleged involvement in telecommunication fraud were deported to China between 2016 and May 2024.