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Zhao Ziwen

A woman allegedly involved in the kidnapping and murder of a Chinese national in the Philippines will be extradited to China after being detained in South Korea, according to China’s state-affiliated media.
Chen Yu-hsuan, a 44-year-old from Taiwan believed to be working in the Philippines, was arrested in Seoul on Sunday, Hongxing News reported.
She is suspected of being behind the deaths of a Chinese citizen, surnamed Xia, and a Chinese-American businessman who had also been kidnapped.
The Taiwanese Criminal Investigation Bureau said on Tuesday that the suspect, identified by her surname Chen, was born in Taipei. It would “continue to pay attention to the matter, and the foreign ministry will assist in handling the matter in the future”, the bureau added.
Upon learning of the kidnappings, Beijing urged the Philippines in early July to find and “severely punish” those responsible.
The two victims reportedly travelled together from Beijing to the Philippines on a business trip around June 20, and were found dead four days later.
Xia’s family reportedly paid a ransom of 3 million yuan (US$412,600).
A Chinese foreign ministry briefing in July cited “evidence provided by a friend” of the Chinese-American victim – surnamed Sun – showed he “had travelled to the Philippines at the invitation of the Philippine company Medev Medical Devices”.
Xia, 39, was an international marketing director at Hong Kong-listed Raimed Medical, and Sun, 45, was a distributor for a cardiovascular medical device company.
“Chat records provided by Sun’s assistant” showed he made the trip after a woman named “Li Na” invited him to the Philippines to discuss overseas distribution business, ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
Hongxing News cited the passport information of “Li Na” to claim she was in fact Chen Yu-hsuan from Taiwan. She would be sent to mainland China to stand trial as it had an extradition treaty with South Korea, the report said.
A joint investigative team involving workers from the Chinese and US embassies in Manila, the FBI and the Philippine police was set up to investigate the crime.
The case caused a storm on Chinese social media after it was discovered that both men had been killed.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary and most countries – including major backer the United States – do not recognise the self-governed island as independent. Washington, however, is opposed to any attempt to take Taiwan by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.
Mainland Chinese courts have in the past tried and sentenced people from Taiwan who had committed crimes in foreign countries.
Kenya and Spain each extradited Taiwanese cyber fraud suspects to mainland China in the 2010s, and some were subsequently sentenced. Taipei lodged protests with Kenya and Spain about the extraditions.
There have been many cases in recent years of Chinese citizens being kidnapped in the Philippines, most related to illegal gambling and telecoms and internet fraud.
In June, four police officers assigned to the Philippine capital region were arrested for kidnapping three Chinese and one Malaysian tourist for ransom. In 20 kidnapping cases recorded since January last year, most of the victims were Chinese, according to the Philippine authorities.
Last year, six Chinese nationals were kidnapped from their home in Manila, four of whom were killed.


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Taipei-born Chen Yu-hsuan is believed to have been working in the Philippines. Photo: Handout

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Photo: Shutterstock

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Police Brigadier General Jonnel Estomo, chief of the Philippines’ National Capital Region Police Office. Photo: Philippine News Agency Handout

A Philippine senator has urged the government to crack down on Pogo-related crimes. Photo: Shutterstock

Philippine Senator Grace Poe raised the alarm this month over another abduction case related to Pogos. Photo: AFP

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Victims include workers or gamblers who accumulate debt and are held hostage by the casino or their employers. Some victims are turned over to syndicated collectors who may belong to criminal rings. These victims are tortured and threatened while their families in China are extorted. Photo: Shutterstock

A screen shows Oriental Game, licensed to run an online gambling website in the Philippines, which has a live platform on its website for customers to interact with the young, female Chinese dealers. Photo: SCMP

According to a source, the biggest ransom payment since the 1990s had occurred during Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency. An online gaming operator had paid 70 million yuan (at the time equivalent to 419 million pesos, or US$7.3 million) in exchange for the release of his son who had been held hostage for months. Photo: AP

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Philippine police have handled 53 kidnapping cases between 2017 and August 2019, leading to the arrest of 120 Chinese nationals and the rescue of 57 Chinese victims. Photo: EPA

Police Gen. Oscar Albayalde gestures during a news conference on the attack by a gunman at Resorts World Manila complex where a security video of the attack was made public, during a news conference in Pasay, Philippines, Saturday, June 3, 2017. Police say a gunman stormed the crowded Manila casino and used gasoline to set gambling tables on fire, creating clouds of smoke that swept through the crowds and killed dozens of people. At right is Police Gen. Tomas Apolinario. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

A screen shows of Oriental Game, licenced to run an online gambling website in the Philippines, has a live platform on its website for customers to interact with the young, female Chinese dealers. The company's digital marketing supervisor Jeffrey Suck said Oriental Game's main target customers are Chinese gamblers. 02DEC18 SCMP / Tory Ho

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China

Diplomacy

Woman, 44, held in Seoul is a suspect in the deaths of a Chinese national and a Chinese-American kidnapped in the Philippines in June


Woman, 44, held in Seoul is a suspect in the deaths of a Chinese national and a Chinese-American kidnapped in the Philippines in June.
