Taipei: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is “taking action” to prevent Taiwan nationals from facing possible arrest when visiting the China-friendly countries Laos, Cambodia, and Belarus, it said Tuesday. MOFA has bolstered the emergency response mechanisms of its overseas offices and is collaborating with like-minded countries to counter China’s threat of “long-arm jurisdiction” over Taiwan, according to MOFA spokesman Hsiao Kuangwei, who did not provide specific details.
According to Focus Taiwan, the agency has consistently advised Taiwanese citizens against visiting certain countries that could be influenced by China into participating in cross-border crime-fighting and the extradition of Taiwanese wanted by Beijing. Hsiao’s comments were in response to a warning from an unnamed government official advising Taiwanese against traveling to Laos, Cambodia, and Belarus due to the likelihood of these countries complying with Beijing’s demands to arrest and deport Taiwanese identified by China as criminal suspects for supporting Taiwan independence.
The unnamed official informed the Chinese-language Liberty Times that Beijing could easily coerce the three countries into detaining Taiwanese independence activists and extraditing them to China for prosecution. Existing travel advisories for Laos and Cambodia highlight the existence of extradition agreements with China, though no such arrangement is mentioned for Belarus.
Currently, MOFA has issued the highest level red travel alert for Belarus due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and for certain areas in Cambodia because of its ongoing border dispute with Thailand. An orange alert, the second-highest level, has been issued for Laos, warning of potential involvement in telecommunication fraud rings.
Concerns over China’s “long-arm jurisdiction” became prominent in November when a Chinese legal expert told China’s state-run CCTV that Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Puma Shen should be treated as a criminal. The expert stated that Shen was on China’s wanted list for advocating Taiwan independence and should be pursued via the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and other mutual judicial assistance channels with foreign countries.
