Taiwan to send delegation to China to discuss deportations

Taiwan plans to dispatch officials to Beijing as early as Monday to discuss the deportation of Taiwanese fraud suspects from Kenya to China that has stirred outrage on the self-ruled island.
The Cabinet's Mainland Affairs Council said today that officials, including those from the Justice Ministry and Criminal Investigation Bureau, will discuss the ongoing case as well as ways of combating crimes involving residents of the two sides detained in other countries.
The latest battle over Taiwanese deportations came after Kenya sent 45 Taiwanese suspects to China instead of Taiwan earlier this month.
Beijing wants to investigate them for posing as police officers, insurance agents and others in order to fraudulently obtain banking details and steal funds from victims in China.

Facing intense public pressure, Taiwanese officials managed to convince Malaysia to deport 20 Taiwanese criminal suspects to Taiwan yesterday despite Beijing's request that they be sent to China.
Another 32 suspects are expected also to be deported from Malaysia to Taiwan for investigation.

China claims jurisdiction in such cases where the victims are Chinese, and says the perpetrators aren't given due punishment when they are returned to Taiwan.
In the Kenya case, Taiwan protested at the lack of due process and accused Beijing of violating a tacit agreement not to interfere in each side's citizens' legal affairs abroad.
Some see in China's moves an attempt to assert its claims to sovereignty over the island and legal authority over its residents.

The sides split amid civil war in 1949 and China has long sought to isolate Taiwan diplomatically by preventing it from maintaining formal ties with most countries, including Malaysia and Kenya. China's economic cloud lends it political influence.