China to return 14 fraud suspects to Taiwan

TAIPEI, Taiwan—Taiwanese officials said China has agreed to return 14 Taiwanese fraud suspects to the island four months after they were deported by the Philippines to the Chinese mainland.

Thursday’s announcement by Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council did not specify a date for the suspects’ return but said it would be “soon.”

The suspects’ original extradition to the mainland caused an outcry in Taiwan. Many Taiwanese said it “belittled” the island’s sovereignty because the Philippines appeared to be treating Taiwan as an appendage of China.

Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949 and Beijing still claims the island as its own.

The 14 Taiwanese suspects were arrested in Manila last year on charges of swindling $20 million in a scam targeting mainland Chinese.