Taiwan said Wednesday a local man implicated in a transnational telecom scam was repatriated from Poland in the first ever extradition the diplomatically isolated island has pulled off.
Only 12 countries officially recognise Taipei over Beijing, which claims the self-ruled island as part of its territory and has demanded some countries deport Taiwanese scammers to China.
The Taiwanese suspect, identified by his family name Liu, was arrested in Poland in 2017 and Polish courts had ordered his extradition to China until he appealed to the European Court of Human Rights which ruled against the decision in 2022, according to Taiwan's justice ministry.
Last year, Taiwan officially requested Poland, which maintains official ties with China, to extradite Liu, who returned to the island last month, the ministry said.
"This marks the first ever case of our country managing to extradite a fugitive from a foreign country," the ministry said in a statement.
The extradition was made possible after Taiwan and Poland signed an agreement on "the Legal Cooperation in Criminal Matters" between their de-facto embassies, which took effect in 2021, it added.
Taiwan's foreign ministry said the case "demonstrates the government's determination to crack down on transnational crimes and its commitment to ensuring global public security".
Western support for Taiwan has grown in recent years as communist China has taken a more aggressive stance towards the democratic island.
Some European countries including Poland have shown willingness to promote closer relations with Taiwan, even if that angers Beijing, which tries to keep Taipei isolated on the world stage and has vowed to seize it, by force if necessary.
China baulks at any move that may lend Taiwan a sense of international legitimacy, and has ramped up diplomatic, military and economic pressure on the island as relations have plunged in recent years.
