President Ma Ying-jeou says there should be a principle for dividing the work between Taiwan and China when it comes to criminal cases involving joint jurisdiction. Ma was speaking on Thursday on Beijing’s recent seizure of 45 Taiwanese citizens allegedly involved in a telecom fraud ring in Kenya.
Ma said in 2009, both sides signed a cross-strait agreement on fighting crime and mutual judicial assistance. Under the agreement, both sides are supposed to consult together before deciding how to delegate work on a case where both sides have jurisdiction.
Ma said that in 2011, the Philippines arrested 14 Taiwanese nationals for transnational fraud. China conducted an investigation into the case first with Taiwanese prosecutors on site. The suspects were then sent back to Taiwan for further investigation.
Ma said that Taiwan is not pleased with China’s handling of the ongoing case against Taiwanese nationals in Kenya because Taiwan was not consulted and China’s actions were not transparent. However, Ma said he believes that the problem is not one of sovereignty but of how to properly divide work on the case. A Taiwanese delegation is now in Beijing to discuss how work should be divided as the case moves forward.
Ma said if the situation had been a sovereignty issue, China would not have involved Taiwan in the case. He said that most of the fraud ring’s victims live in China, so China will provide much of the evidence and many of the witnesses in this case.
Ma said it is unlikely that the detainees will be sent back to Taiwan before the May 20 inauguration since China is still conducting its investigation into the case.