TAIPEI: The Philippines has sent home a Taiwanese fugitive in what is being seen as a bid to patch up ties damaged by the deportation of Taiwan nationals to China, officials said Wednesday.
Huang Yu-pin, one of 18 Taiwanese arrested in the Philippines in December on suspicion of fraud, was escorted back to Taiwan late Tuesday night, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said.
The 30-year-old was wanted for other fraud cases, and the deportation was welcomed by the island, which had complained over the "improper" deportation to China of Taiwanese nationals involved in another case.
The other 17 suspects have been released by the Philippine police due to a lack of evidence.
The decision to repatriate Huang "marked the first correct step towards the goal of jointly busting crimes", Taiwan's foreign ministry said in a statement.
China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since the end of a civil war in 1949, although Beijing claims the island. The Philippines has formal ties with China only but maintains economic and cultural links with Taiwan.
Taipei expressed fury after the Philippines deported 14 Taiwanese suspects to mainland China rather than Taiwan in February after they allegedly swindled $20 million in an international scam targeting mainland Chinese.
Taiwan reacted by announcing it was considering a freeze on the hiring of Philippine workers, although no such action has yet been taken.
There are more than 70,000 Philippine workers in Taiwan, sending home hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
