The street scene of Sihanoukville city Photo: Lan Hui/GT

After issuing "a letter to Taiwan compatriots," the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia has received more than 10 requests for help from Taiwan people via telephone and email, most of whom have been forced to engage in online gambling, telecommunications fraud and subject to personal restrictions, or have even lost contact, the embassy told the Global Times exclusively on Thursday. 

The embassy will immediately activate the rescue mechanism upon receiving the information of Taiwan compatriots seeking help, instructing them, their family members or relevant personnel to report to the Cambodian police as soon as possible, and to provide the embassy with valid information such as personal information and location of the people concerned, said the embassy in an email reply to the Global Times. 

The embassy will also actively communicate with local police departments to supervise the handling of relevant cases, it said.

"Taiwan compatriots are Chinese citizens, so if you have any difficulties, please contact the embassy," the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia told the Taiwan compatriots in difficulty in the country in a statement issued on Saturday night after some of them were reportedly forced to join online gambling, telecommunications fraud and other illegal activities and have been subject to movement restriction in Cambodia.

Commenting on the remarks made by Joseph Wu, leader of Taiwan's external affairs authority, that claimed that it is Chinese [mainland] fraud groups that have made Taiwan people suffer, the embassy said the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities are playing the trick of engaging in political manipulation again.

The DPP authorities ignored, reacted passively to the calls of the Taiwan people in difficulty in Cambodia, and even tried to fabricate lies and shift the blame to the mainland. This fully exposes their consistent tactics of engaging in political manipulation, inciting confrontation and deceiving the people in Taiwan with no regard for their lives and interests, said the embassy. 

Experts said the crisis of some Taiwan people trapped in fraud and movement restriction in Cambodia is a result of the DPP authorities' incompetence and irresponsibility and it is the "New Southbound Policy" promoted by the DPP authorities that has led to such tragedies. 

The failure of handling the cases of Taiwan people in difficulty in Cambodia once again exposed the DPP's nature of shirking responsibility and covering up its own mistakes when faced with uneven economic development and high unemployment rates among young people in the island, Sheng Jiuyuan, director of the Taiwan Research Center at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday. 

It also showed that the "New Southbound Policy" is not promising for young people from Taiwan who seek development in Southeast Asia, instead, the mainland-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, which benefits people from both overseas and Chinese citizens, including Taiwan compatriots, will bring about more opportunities for them in Southeast Asia, Sheng said. 

The "New Southbound Policy" was initiated by Tsai Ing-wen, the current regional leader of the island and the head of the DPP, after her authorities ruined cross-Straits relations due to its secessionist approaches to seek more alternatives to remedy the damage to trade and people-to-people exchanges with the mainland by increasing inputs to Southeast Asia without serious planning and consideration, and those Taiwan compatriots trapped in Southeast Asia today are the victims of such an unwise secessionist policy. 

Anger and accusations have exploded in Taiwan island recently after tragic cases of fraud and scam victims from Taiwan kept being reported. Taiwan people and officials criticized the "New Southbound Policy," saying it is ironic and pathetic that the achievement of the heavily invested policy is nothing more than causing some people to suffer and become forced labor overseas.