Justice Minister Luo Ying-shay says it will be some time before the government can get the information it needs about the case of 45 Taiwanese nationals being held in China. She was speaking at the Legislature on Thursday.
The 45 Taiwanese nationals were arrested in Kenya on suspicion of telecom fraud. Beijing claims jurisdiction in the case, since most of the fraud ring’s victims were Mainland Chinese. The Taiwanese suspects were forcibly sent to China where they are still imprisoned.
The government sent a delegation to Beijing to meet with Chinese authorities on the case. Luo said that Taiwan’s government needs to gather information before moving forward with a second meeting on the case. She said the scope of the alleged fraud extends to more than 20 Chinese provinces, and this complexity has made it difficult to get information from the Chinese side quickly.
She said that while Chinese authorities have expressed hope that a second meeting on the case will take place soon, it does not seem likely that it will take place this week.