Taiwan seeks return of suspects sent to China

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan's government has called on Beijing to return 14 Taiwanese fraud suspects that the Philippines mistakenly deported to China this week.

Premier Wu Den-yih said Saturday that Beijing should send the suspects home based on a bilateral agreement on combating crime.

The Taiwanese were deported this week together with 10 Chinese citizens arrested in Manila last year on charges of swindling $20 million in a scam targeting mainland Chinese.

A statement by China's Ministry of Public Security says Chinese police had escorted 24 suspects back. It did not elaborate.

Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949, and Beijing views the self-ruled island as a renegade province. Taiwan insists it has jurisdiction over its citizens involved in crime. (report from Associated Press/Inquirer.net)