台湾呼吁北京方面释放肯尼亚遣返者

Taiwan has accused China of abducting eight of its citizens from Kenya as cross-strait relations come under strain before the inauguration next month of a new Taiwanese president who is less friendly to Beijing.

台湾指控中国大陆从肯尼亚强行押走8名台湾公民。与北京方面不那么友好的台湾新总统将于下个月宣誓就职，眼下台海两岸关系正处于紧张状态。

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said the citizens were deported to China on a Chinese airliner on Friday after being acquitted of phone fraud in Nairobi earlier this month.

台湾外交部表示，这几名台湾公民上周五被一架大陆班机遣送至大陆。本月早些时候，这几人在内罗毕被宣判电信诈骗罪名不成立。

The foreign ministry accused Beijing of an “uncivilised act of extrajudicial abduction” and called for the release of its citizens. It said on Tuesday that the Kenyan police were trying to deport to China 37 more Taiwanese citizens connected to the case.

台湾外交部指控北京方面的行为是“非法掳人的不文明行径”，并要求大陆释放其公民。周二，该机构表示肯尼亚警方正试图将与该案有关的另外37名台湾公民遣送至中国大陆。

Since their split at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, Beijing has claimed that self-governing Taiwan is one of its provinces.

1949年中国内战结束时两岸分裂，自那以来北京方面一直声称台湾是中国的一个省。

Only 22 nations maintain diplomatic relations with Taipei, while the vast majority of countries including Kenya respect Beijing’s “One China” policy by refusing to acknowledge Taiwan as a separate entity.

只有22个国家维持与台湾的外交关系，包括肯尼亚在内的绝大多数国家则遵重北京方面的“一个中国”政策，拒绝承认台湾是一个独立的实体。

Taiwanese-Chinese phone fraud gangs targeting victims at home have established themselves in a range of overseas territories with weak law enforcement from Southeast Asia to Africa.

以同胞为目标的中国大陆和台湾电信诈骗团伙，已经在从东南亚到非洲的多个执法力度较弱的海外地区建立据点。

In a similar case in 2011, the Philippines deported 14 Taiwanese who were suspected of involvement in phone fraud to China. They were returned to Taiwan after several months of negotiations between Beijing and Taipei, which signed an agreement on joint crime-fighting and cross-strait judicial assistance in 2009.

在2011年的一宗类似案件中，菲律宾曾将14名涉嫌卷入电信诈骗的台湾人遣送至中国大陆。经过北京和台北几个月的磋商，这些人被送返台湾。台海两岸曾在2009年签署一份共同打击犯罪和两岸司法互助的协议（文首图为台湾立委陈亭妃展示一份两岸司法协议）。

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, which manages relations with Beijing, said the Kenyan deportations “ignore the rapport built between both sides since 2011 when dealing with similar cases”.

负责与北京方面关系的台湾陆委会(Mainland Affairs Council)表示，肯尼亚遣送事件“罔顾双方自100年（即公元2011年，译者注）起处理类似案例所建立之默契”。

Given that the eight deportees were found not guilty by the Kenyan court, it said their transfer to China “violates the basic rights of our people” and that “the mainland side should take full responsibility of the serious impact on the cross-strait relationship”.

陆委会表示，考虑到8名被驱逐者已获肯尼亚法庭宣告无罪，他们被遣送大陆“严重侵害我民众基本权益”，“对于两岸关系的严重影响，陆方应负完全责任”。

The dispute over the deportees from Kenya comes at a sensitive time for cross-strait ties, with Tsai Ing-wen to be sworn in as president next month after winning a landslide election victory in January as she rode a wave of anti-China feeling.

围绕肯尼亚遣返者的争端，发生在两岸关系的敏感时期。下个月，蔡英文(Tsai Ing-wen)将宣誓就任台湾总统。今年1月，得益于一波反大陆情绪，蔡英文在选举中取得了压倒性胜利。

Beijing has long been hostile to her Democratic Progressive party, which wants the island to cut its economic reliance on China and has historically called for Taiwan to become fully independent.

长期以来，北京方面对蔡英文所在的民进党(Democratic Progressive Party)一直怀有敌意。民进党主张台湾切断与大陆的经济联系，并曾呼吁台湾完全独立。

Ms Tsai has pledged to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan strait but will not find it easy to reassure Beijing about her intentions without upsetting hardliners in her own party.

蔡英文曾承诺维持台海两岸的和平与稳定。不过她会发现，在不得罪民进党内强硬派的同时让北京方面对她的意图放心，并不是件容易的事。