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Taiwan protests as Kenya cites 'one China' policy in deportations

ROC Central News Agency

2016/04/13 23:02:15

Taipei, April 13 (CNA) Taiwan issued a strong protest Wednesday after Kenya cited the "one China" policy as grounds for deporting several Taiwanese citizens to China after they were accused of phone fraud.

In a statement, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) protested against Kenya's decision to deport the Taiwanese suspects to China and demanded that the African country give a "reasonable explanation" for its actions.

The statement came after international media reports citied the Kenyan government as saying that the fraud suspects were in Kenya illegally and were being sent back to where they had come from.

"We don't have official relations with Taiwan. We believe in the 'One China' policy. We have diplomatic relations with China," Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed was also quoted as saying in a Reuters report.

"We haven't seen the official protest (from Taipei), we are actually hearing it from the media," Mohamed said, according to Reuters.

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 that targeted 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 on charges related to setting up telecommunications equipment without a license and were released on the spot.

On Tuesday, Kenyan police brandished submachine guns and tear gas canisters as they forced another 37 Taiwanese to board a plane bound for China. The group of Taiwanese included 22 who were arrested April 8 and 15 others who were also acquitted April 5.

On Wednesday, Taiwan's foreign ministry said it had filed a suit against Kenya's interior minister, police inspector general and attorney general.

Taiwan is arguing that those officials allowed Kenyan police to forcefully detain Taiwanese citizens for more than 24 hours, ignoring a court injunction, and were working illegally with China's embassy in Kenya to deport the Taiwanese citizens.

The detentions and deportations were a violation of the human rights of the Taiwanese citizens, MOFA said.

In turn, China has said that the Taiwanese were part of a telephone fraud ring, which included Chinese living in Kenya and was targeting people in China.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said Wednesday that it was arranging for a delegation to leave for China in two or three days to deal with the issue.

There have been speculations that Kenya's apparent pandering to China may be related to its growing dependence on Beijing for financial support, especially as financing from its traditional foreign creditors Japan and France has stagnated or declined.

(By Elaine Hou)
ENDITEM/pc