International News

PHNOM PENH, (APP/AFP) – Eight more Taiwanese nationals
have been arrested in Cambodia over an alleged telephone scam, police said Tuesday, with China apparently poised to send a plane to collect them despite fierce opposition from Taipei.
Taipei accuses Beijing of “abducting” its citizens from countries
that do not recognise the island’s government — such as China ally Cambodia.
A total of 21 Taiwanese and 14 Chinese have now been arrested in
Cambodia over recent days for allegedly running a telephone fraud targeting victims on the mainland.
“We will deport them to China this week. China will send a plane to
pick up all of them,” Major General Uk Heisela, director of inspection and procedure at the General Department of Immigration, told AFP.
In April both Malaysia and Kenya returned Taiwanese nationals accused
of crimes to mainland China sparking uproar in Taipei.
Uk Heisela said the eight new arrests were made on Saturday in a raid
in Phnom Penh.
Cambodia, historically one of Beijing’s closest allies in Southeast
Asia, refuses to draw a distinction between China and Taiwan, simply referring to nationals from the latter as “island Chinese”.
Taiwan is self-ruling after splitting with China in 1949, following a
civil war, but Beijing still sees it as a part of its territory waiting to be reunified.
The island has never formally declared independence.