Taiwanese authorities have accused the Kenyans of using guns and tear gas.
Only two days after eight Taiwanese nationals were deported to the Chinese mainland on Saturday, the Taiwanese authorities have accused a group of Kenyan police officers of coercing thirty-seven Taiwanese nationals onto a plane heading to China. In addition, the have been accused of making use of guns and tear gas for the same. Taiwan labelled the deportations as being ‘extrajudicial abductions’ by the Beijing government.
China, which has, for the last 50 years, viewed Taiwan as a breakaway region of itself, that must be brought back together with the Chinese mainland. In that case, China urges that other countries are unable to recognize China and Taiwan as two, formal, separate states and hence, Taiwan does not enjoy diplomatic relations with several nations, including Kenya. As a result of this, Kenya has often been appreciated by Beijing for its ‘one-China’ policy.
The thirty-seven Taiwanese nationals were taken into custody and later acquitted in a case of fraud. They were then forced onto a plane, even though John Chen, Taiwan’s representative to South Africa continually protested the action. Moreover, Kenyan officials claimed that some Taiwanese from the group that was arrested had attempted to block the policemen’s entry into the jail cell where they were being held, which impelled the officials to knock down a wall, use tear gas and threaten the inmates with ‘assault rifles’. At this time, Chinese diplomatic representatives were supposedly present, according to the information provided by Antonio CS Chen, the chief of the West Asian and African Affairs section of Taiwan’s foreign ministry.
Mr. John Chen, who had rushed to Kenya to put an end to the expatriation, was denied his plea to meet with the Taiwanese in custody and negotiate with the officials. Officials there informed him that the Taiwanese were taken in for participating in financial fraud ring alongside certain Chinese nationals, using a telecommunications cheat ring. However, the Kenyans suspect that both parties had decided to not oust each other, referring to a similar case that occurred back in 2011, when the Philipines had sent back certain Taiwanese nationals to China. Taiwan had to continue negotiating for five months before it could secure their safe return to Taiwanese land.
Furthermore, analysts have put great weight on the fact that these deportations have taken place merely a month prior to the swearing in of Taiwan’s new President Tsai Ing-wen, who comes from a party that strongly advocates an independent Taiwan. Although President Tsai has remained quite on the subject so far, analysts say that this move puts immense pressure on the government to pay heed or be ready for more such incidents, as Beijing time and again tries to urge Taiwan to reunite with the mainland.
When requested for comment on the case, a foreign ministry spokesman of the Chinese Republic, Lu Kang, said,” The one-China policy is an important pre-condition for bilateral relations with China and other countries. We commend Kenya for its upholding of this policy.”
Meanwhile, a Kenyan interior ministry spokesperson defended the government’s actions saying that the 37 deportees arrived “from China and we took them to China” and that Kenya had “an obligation to ensure if people are here illegally they are taken back to where they came from”.
Under self-rule for the last 50 years, this comes as another roadblock in Taiwan’s progress.
Source: BBC
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