A Taiwanese delegation has arrived in Beijing to negotiate the return of 45 detained Taiwanese citizens allegedly involved in a telecom fraud ring in Kenya.
The delegation, led by Justice Ministry official Chen Wen-chi, left for China Wednesday morning. The trip is aimed at securing visitation rights, examining criminal evidence against the detainees, and seeking the detainees’ release.
At the airport, Chen said the justice ministry hopes to handle the matter based on a judicial mutual assistance agreement between Taiwan and China.
“We hope to handle the cases that have happened already cooperatively and under a joint investigation. We hope to set up a reasonable and regularized mechanism for handling similar cases that might happen in the future. We also want to protect the human rights and legal rights of the 45 Taiwanese nationals detained in China,” said Chen.
Also on Wednesday, Justice Minister Luo Ying-shay told lawmakers that it’s hard to say whether the delegation will able to produce positive results due to the sheer number of detainees and the amount of evidence involved in the case.