Taiwan officials are set to go to China on Wednesday for 3 days to discuss the Kenya fraud case involving 45 Taiwanese suspects that China has detained.
Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang said that the justice ministry contacted China’s Ministry of Public Security on Sunday about sending a delegation to China about the case. This process is according to a cross-strait agreement on jointly fighting crimes. The delegation includes officials from Taiwan’s judicial, security and cross-strait government agencies.
Chen said in 2011, 14 Taiwan suspects were also sent to China after being caught in the Philippines. After five months, they were sent back to Taiwan. He said negotiations like these usually take more than one trip and will cover many issues.
"The main purpose is to see how evidence related to the case can be given to us and the possibility of the people being sent back to Taiwan for trial. We will discuss this issue and the issue of humanitarian visits," said Chen.
China made public the video of the confession of a suspect during questioning. Chen said that this does not adhere to judicial systems and does not respect the victim’s rights. This type of confession cannot be used as evidence in legal proceedings in many countries. He said he will tell China that he hopes to see China treat the case with goodwill.
Chinese media has been calling Taiwan a kingdom of con artists, and many victims have come out with accusations. Chen said Taiwan has increased the penalty for fraud and gives out one punishment for each incident.