Kenyan decision abides by territorial jurisdiction
China on Tuesday applauded Kenya's decision to deport Taiwanese residents to the Chinese mainland for possible involvement in a telecoms scam.
Lu Kang, spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters on Tuesday that China praises Kenya's long-term stand on the one-China policy, as it is the significant premise and foundation of China in developing foreign relations.
Media reported that Chen Chun-shen, the chief of West Asian and African Affairs in Taiwan's "foreign ministry," said Tuesday that 15 Taiwan residents in Kenya were flown to the Chinese mainland after confronting police, together with 22 others arrested Friday over an alleged telecoms scam.
Taiwan on Monday accused Beijing of "abducting" a group of eight Taiwanese, who it said had been acquitted in a cybercrime case in Kenya, Reuters reported.
The mainland's Taiwan affairs chief Zhang Zhijun said he spoke by telephone with his counterpart on the island, Andrew Hsia, informing him that the Taiwanese suspects swindled many mainland residents, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
"Kenya has no diplomatic relations with Taiwan, so deporting them to Taiwan is not reasonable and possible," Yang Lixian, a research fellow on Taiwan studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou said Monday that the event "violated justice," and some local media also voiced their opposition.
"From the traditional media to the Internet on the island, all have reacted emotionally to this event, which, it seems they forgot, is a criminal case and whose attitude should not be to protest the Chinese mainland," Ni Yongjie, a research fellow at the Shanghai Institute for Taiwan Studies, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
It is also the responsibility and duty of both the Chinese mainland and Taiwan to fight crime, according to Ni.
