A report by the NGO Safeguard Defenders highlights Madrid’s role in Beijing’s strategy to undermine the sovereignty of the island that it considers its ‘rebel province’
Spain does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign country, and has often defined itself as “China’s best friend in Europe.” This situation has an unexpected consequence: our country has become the only European state to extradite Taiwanese accused of breaking the law to China. Specifically, between 2016 and 2019, he deported 219 citizens of the former Formosa to the Asian giant, the majority accused of participating in telephone fraud, which makes Spain the country in the world that most collaborated with the Chinese justice in this regard, ahead from Cambodia, the Philippines or Armenia, and in the only one that did so within the western bloc.
This is what concludes the report ‘The Chinese hunting of Taiwanese citizens abroad’, published by the NGO Safeguard Defenders after the investigation of 600 cases. The organization denounces that these deportations violate international law and endanger the extradited persons, who do not have access to consular advice or the support of family and friends, since Taiwan is a de facto independent country, and that they are vulnerable to violence. violation of their fundamental rights and torture, sufficient legal basis to automatically deny Chinese requests. “In some cases, upon arrival in China, they are even denied contact with Taiwanese officials or with relatives,” highlights the report, which includes extraditions in the strategy that Beijing has implemented to undermine the sovereignty of Taiwan, recognized by a dwindling number of countries before the rise of the second world power.
The NGO shows its disappointment at the collaboration of the Spanish authorities, which have not yet responded to its request for information, with those of China. “We are surprised at the speed at which Spain processes and approves extradition requests, despite the fact that even the United Nations has warned of the danger that this entails,” the director of Safeguard Defenders, the Swede Peter Dahlin, explained to this newspaper. He was the victim of a forced televised confession in China and has documented in depth the Chinese regime’s justice outrages.
“And we are even more surprised that Spain assists China in violating a binding treaty that specifies that Taiwanese must be extradited to Taiwan. We wonder if the government and the courts are aware of the treaty – the Joint Straits Agreement to Fight Crime and Mutual Legal Assistance – and if not, why, “adds Dahlin.
For its part, China maintains that, in the absence of recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign country, the citizens of the island belong to the People’s Republic of China and should be extradited to its territory for judicial processing in accordance with mainland Chinese law. , which is significantly different from the Taiwanese, where a democratic system with separation of powers prevails.
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