January 22, 2018
The STA reports January 22, 2018. that Slovenia respects the One-China policy and will respond to Chinese claims with a diplomatic note once it has comprehensive information about the case, Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec said in response to claims that Slovenian officers had violated the policy by engaging two Taiwanese interpreters in an operation against illegal call centres.
Last Thursday, Slovenian police apprehended nine persons in an operation against an international crime ring conducting telephone fraud. The police also identified 32 Asian victims of human trafficking.
In the operation, the police hired two Taiwanese interpretors, which is said to have violated the One-China policy. The Chinese Embassy in Ljubljana said on Sunday that there had been no language difficulties because Chinese police officers had been invited to participate in the operation.
"During the house search a person from Taiwan even admitted that he was not an interpreter but a police officer from Taiwan."
The Foreign Ministry will now request a report from the police to come to the bottom of the issue. "I cannot give any more comments, because this is an issue in the authority of the Interior Ministry and the police," Erjavec said.
He added that once the ministry gets comprehensive information about the developments that day, it would give an answer to China.
The minister also said that it was premature to talk about a deterioration of relations between China and Slovenia.
The Slovenian police are said to have violated the One-China policy by engaging two Taiwanese interpreters in their operation.
However, the Chinese Embassy says that the One-China principle "is not just a phrase and must therefore be respected in all aspects and actions".
Urging Slovenia to hand over "all Taiwanese criminals", including the alleged victims, the embassy says that China does not want them to be released without punishment or extradited to Taiwan, "where they will be able to engage again in criminal activities".
The foreign minister did not want to comment on extradition to China, because it is "in the purview of the Justice Ministry".
