China Uncensored: Taiwanese ‘Deported’ to China

What's the Problem?

On this episode of China Uncensored, 15 Taiwanese citizens attempted to barricade themselves in a Kenyan jail cell—because they didn’t want to get deported.

Unfortunately, their delightful detainment wasn’t to last.

A few moments later, Kenyan police busted the door down, grabbed them, and put them on an airplane—and deported them to China. Mainland China. Not Taiwan, where they’re from.

As Kenya’s Interior Ministry spokesperson Mwenda Njoka put it, “They came from China and we took them to China.”

Here’s what happened: These 15 people are part of a group of 45 Taiwan citizens who faced charges in Kenya for telecom fraud. They had been accused of defrauding people in mainland China of more than $93 million dollars in a series of scams.

They were acquitted by the Kenyan court, yet the government of mainland China insisted that Kenya send these Taiwanese to mainland China for “investigation.”

It’s not that Kenyan officials are too dumb to realize that being from China and being from Taiwan are not the same thing. They just want to respect the “One China” policy, where Kenya only recognizes the CCP, and not the Taiwan government, as the legitimate rulers of all of China.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang praised Kenya, saying “Countries which follow the ‘One China’ principle are worthy of approval.”

But while Kenya may get a gold star from the CCP, they’re actually violating their own policy—because the Kenyan court issued an order to not deport these people.

So why would they do it? Could it possibly have to do with...money?