Chinese authorities have revealed that the Taiwanese college student surnamed Guo in custody after going missing in Shanghai last month is being investigated for widespread fraud.
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00:00Chinese authorities have now disclosed that they have been investigating this 22-year-old
00:06Taiwanese student who went missing in Shanghai about a month ago.
00:10A Beijing spokesperson said the student, surnamed Guo, who was only recently confirmed as being
00:16in Chinese custody, is suspected of committing widespread fraud.
00:21Taiwanese authorities have condemned the way China has communicated with them about the
00:26case as being too slow and unclear.
00:38Guo traveled to Shanghai at the end of August, but his family lost contact with him within
00:43days of his arrival.
00:46Beijing's confirmation of Guo's detention a month later, the first they'd heard about
00:50Guo's whereabouts.
00:52Taiwan says that delay in disclosing the matter does not follow the 2009 cross-strait
00:58agreement on joint crime fighting, which includes a pledge to exchange information about Taiwanese
01:04and Chinese criminal suspects and to jointly help apprehend and repatriate them.
01:10But Chinese authorities maintain they are abiding by the law.
01:33Guo's case is just one of many where Taiwanese authorities say their Chinese counterparts
01:38failed to report investigations in a timely manner.
01:42Worries over this gap in communication have been heightened since Beijing released legal
01:47guidelines for punishing, quote, independence diehards earlier this year, forcing Taiwan
01:54to warn its citizens against non-essential travel across the strait.
01:59Guo's family is concerned about his well-being and maintains his innocence against China's
02:04accusations of fraud.
02:16China has previously used cases like Guo's to put pressure on Taiwan's government.
02:21And with details still limited about the specifics of his case, it is unclear what will come
02:27of the investigation and if or how soon Guo will be allowed to return home.
02:33Fu Huahong and Joyce Zeng for Taiwan Plus.