Taipei, Feb. 2 (CNA) Taiwan is strongly opposed to the Philippine government's decision to deport 14 Taiwanese fraud suspects to China and will reexamine its relations with the Southeast Asian country, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Wednesday.
The Philippines government's handling of a cross-border fraud case was a "violation of the jurisdiction principle of nationality and its own legal procedures," the MOFA said in a press release.
Taiwan expresses "strong protest" and will "seriously reexamine its exchanges, " including its cooperation projects, with the Philippines, the ministry said.
A total of 24 suspects -- 14 Taiwanese and 10 Chinese -- were deported from the Philippines to China Wednesday morning at the request of the Chinese government, despite Taiwan's protests, according to the MOFA.
The suspects had been arrested on charges of cross-border fraud against Chinese nationals and are believed to have netted illegal profits of around NT$600 million (140 million yuan), the MOFA said.
The suspects were arrested by a joint task force from the Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation and the Chinese police authority on Dec. 27 last year.
Since then, China had been asking the Philippines to deport all the suspects to China under an extradition agreement between the two countries, while Taiwan had been seeking repatriation of its nationals under the jurisdiction principle of nationality, according to the MOFA.
Taiwan's representative office in the Philippines tried until the last minute to stop the Taiwanese citizens from being sent to China, but the Philippines authorities refused the request, the ministry said.
The ministry said it summoned Antonio Basilio, director of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taipei -- the Philippines' representative office in Taiwan in the absence of official bilateral diplomatic ties -- and his deputy Carlo Aquino to state its position.
Donald Lee, Taiwan's representative to the Philippines, has written a formal letter of protest to Philippine President Benigno Aquino, according to the MOFA.
In addition, Deputy Foreign Minister Shen Ssu-tsun told MECO deputy director Carlo Aquino in their meeting Wednesday morning that Taiwan will seriously reexamine its relations and exchanges with the Philippines, the MOFA said.
The MOFA said it has also brought the matter to the attention of the Ministry of Justice and the Mainland Affairs Council, in the hope that the 14 suspects could be returned to Taiwan under the framework of the Cross-Strait Agreement on Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance.
The MECO declined Wednesday afternoon to comment on the issue. (By Chris Wang) enditem /pc