Asia

China says investigating Taiwanese deported from Kenya

Associated Press
Published | Updated

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese suspects involved in wire fraud, center, sit in a plane as they arrive at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing on Wednesday, April 13, 2016. The deportation of nearly four dozen Taiwanese that's part of a larger group including mainland Chinese from Kenya to China where they are being investigated over wire fraud allegations is focusing new attention on Beijingís willingness to assert its sovereignty claim over the Taiwan, and the leverage it wields over smaller nations in backing that position.(Yin Gang/Xinhua News Agency via AP) NO SALES (The Associated Press)

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese suspects involved in wire fraud are escorted off a plane upon arriving at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing on Wednesday, April 13, 2016. The deportation of nearly four dozen Taiwanese that's part of a larger group including mainland Chinese from Kenya to China where they are being investigated over wire fraud allegations is focusing new attention on Beijingís willingness to assert its sovereignty claim over the Taiwan, and the leverage it wields over smaller nations in backing that position.(Yin Gang/Xinhua News Agency via AP) NO SALES (The Associated Press)

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese suspects involved in wire fraud are escorted off a plane upon arriving at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing on Wednesday, April 13, 2016. The deportation of nearly four dozen Taiwanese that's part of a larger group including mainland Chinese from Kenya to China where they are being investigated over wire fraud allegations is focusing new attention on Beijingís willingness to assert its sovereignty claim over the Taiwan, and the leverage it wields over smaller nations in backing that position.(Yin Gang/Xinhua News Agency via AP) NO SALES (The Associated Press)

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.