Thursday, September 1 2016 14:30

ArmInfo. "At the moment, we  hold no such information," the press office of the Armenian Police  has told ArmInfo, when commenting on the reports that Armenian law-  enforcers seized passports of 34 citizens of Taiwan.  

Meanwhile, Focus Taiwan reports, citing the Ministry of Foreign  Affairs (MOFA) of Taiwan that the passports of 34 Taiwanese in the  Republic of Armenia were seized by police recently during a massive  probe into fraud activities in the country.   "Citing a report from Taiwan's representative office in Russia, the  ministry said that during an investigation into fraud offenses by  Mandarin-speaking suspects, Armenian police earlier this month raided  two homes and a hotel where Taiwanese nationals were staying.   The police seized the passports, mobile phones, and computers of the  34 Taiwanese, whom they have placed under surveillance, the MOFA  said.   The Taiwanese suspects can travel around in Armenia freely but cannot  leave the country because their passports have been seized, the MOFA  said, adding that some of them called Taiwan's representative office  in Russia for help.  

Citing Armenian police, the Taiwanese suspects said that Armenia has  been hit large scale fraud recently, according to the MOFA.  

After law enforcement officers discovered that some of the suspects  were Mandarin speakers, the police decided to check on all ethnic  Chinese in the country, including the 34 Taiwanese, the MOFA said,  citing the suspects.  The MOFA said Taiwan's representative to Russia  David Wang was on his way to Armenia, a sovereign state in the South  Caucasus region of Eurasia, to deal with the matter since Taiwan has  no liaison office in Armenia," the source says.   ArmInfo has not yet received any comment from the Taipei-Moscow  Economic and Cultural Coordination Commission (TMECCC).  

In the matter of Taiwan, Armenia is committed to the traditional  stand "United China". Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian  confirmed this stand during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart  Yang Jiechi in 2011.  The joint declaration adopted by Armenian  President Serzh Sargsyan and PRC President Xi Jinping during  Sargsyan's visit to China on 25 March 2015 also reaffirmed that  stand.