Source: AFP
Taiwan called Tuesday on the Philippines to step up cooperation on fighting cross-border crimes and avoid a recurrence of a row over Manila's deportation of 14 Taiwanese suspected fraudsters to China.
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Taiwan called Tuesday on the Philippines to step up cooperation on fighting cross-border crimes and avoid a recurrence of a row over Manila's deportation of 14 Taiwanese suspected fraudsters to China.
"It's time for the two sides to sit down and talk," Taiwan Foreign Minister Timothy Yang told reporters.
"A mechanism should be set up to jointly bust international crime. That way, we could also avoid a repeat of the recent row."
Philippine authorities arrested 14 Taiwanese and 10 Chinese nationals in December over an alleged scam to swindle mainlanders out of $20 million.
A spat erupted after all of those arrested were deported to China, despite protests from Taipei, which said they Taiwanese should have been sent back to the self-governed island to face justice.
Taiwan's foreign ministry said Monday the island's diplomatic representative in Manila would be recalled this week.
In a statement, it added: "The screening of applications for work here by various Filipino workers will be tightened" and the existing visa-free treatment for Filipinos travelling to Taiwan will also be called off.
Yang said "the retaliatory measures were aimed to safeguard our sovereignty and national dignity".
There are about 72,000 Filipino workers in Taiwan, remitting hundreds of millions of dollars a year, helping boost the Philippines' economy.
"We'd like to maintain our friendly ties with the Philippines, but what it did first has harmed such ties. Therefore we decided to adopt the measures so as to safeguard national dignity and to display our discontent," the ministry said.
It said the measures will be reviewed contingent upon the Philippines' "goodwill" in the future.
The Philippines, like most countries, formally recognises Beijing rather than Taipei, but maintains trade and tourism ties with Taiwan.
"A mechanism should be set up to jointly bust international crime. That way, we could also avoid a repeat of the recent row."
Philippine authorities arrested 14 Taiwanese and 10 Chinese nationals in December over an alleged scam to swindle mainlanders out of $20 million.
A spat erupted after all of those arrested were deported to China, despite protests from Taipei, which said they Taiwanese should have been sent back to the self-governed island to face justice.
Taiwan's foreign ministry said Monday the island's diplomatic representative in Manila would be recalled this week.
In a statement, it added: "The screening of applications for work here by various Filipino workers will be tightened" and the existing visa-free treatment for Filipinos travelling to Taiwan will also be called off.
Yang said "the retaliatory measures were aimed to safeguard our sovereignty and national dignity".
There are about 72,000 Filipino workers in Taiwan, remitting hundreds of millions of dollars a year, helping boost the Philippines' economy.
"We'd like to maintain our friendly ties with the Philippines, but what it did first has harmed such ties. Therefore we decided to adopt the measures so as to safeguard national dignity and to display our discontent," the ministry said.
It said the measures will be reviewed contingent upon the Philippines' "goodwill" in the future.
The Philippines, like most countries, formally recognises Beijing rather than Taipei, but maintains trade and tourism ties with Taiwan.
