Updated

China says a group of Taiwanese, whose deportation from Kenya to Beijing sparked protests from Taiwan's government, are being investigated for suspected wire fraud.

Kenyan authorities are in the process of sending 45 Taiwanese and 32 Chinese who had been detained there in November 2014 and April this year to Beijing. Taiwan's government has protested the Kenyan move and accused China of violating a tacit agreement not to interfere in the legal affairs of Taiwanese abroad.

The spokesman for the Chinese Cabinet's Taiwan Affairs Office, An Fengshan, said Wednesday that Chinese law gives Chinese police jurisdiction in such cases where the victims were Chinese and that it was necessary to detain the Taiwanese to aid in the investigation.

China claims Taiwan as its own territory.