REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TAIPEI -- China has expressed initial welcome for Taiwan to send representatives there to discuss Kenya's deportation to China of Taiwanese nationals in connection with a telephone fraud ring in the African country, Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang said Tuesday.
To date, the Kenyan authorities have handed over to China a total of 45 Taiwanese nationals who allegedly were members of various Kenya-based telecommunications fraud rings targeting mainly Chinese victims.
The first incident occurred April 8, when eight Taiwanese were put on a flight to China three days after they were acquitted by a Kenyan court for illegal telecom operations and organized crime, for which they were arrested in November 2014. However, the Chinese authorities want them charged in China with fraud.
On Tuesday, Kenyan police brandished submachine guns and tear gas to force another 37 Taiwanese to board a plane bound for China.
Taiwan's Ministry of Justice talked with China's Ministry of Public Security Monday, expressing its intention to send representatives to China to discuss the matter and investigate the situation, Chen said.
The request received an initially positive response from the Chinese security authorities, although they did not make any promises as to when such talks could be held, according to Chen.
Even though Beijing has jurisdiction in the fraud investigation involving the Taiwanese nationals because the alleged crimes targeted Chinese nationals, Taiwan also has jurisdiction if it can be ascertained that any Taiwanese nationals fell victim to the alleged crimes, Chen said.
Chen said the ministry has asked the Criminal Investigation Bureau under Taiwan's National Police Agency to look into whether Taiwanese victims were involved.
If the Taiwanese nationals are convicted and sentenced in China, Taiwan could still repatriate them based on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Act between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, according to Chen.
The military said 30 Kurdish militants had been killed on Monday in clashes in four southeastern towns that are currently under military curfew and are located near to Turkey's borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran.
More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK took up arms in 1984.
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