The Chinese mainland’s Taiwan affairs chief has briefed his Taiwan counterpart on a batch of telecom fraud suspects, including Taiwan residents, seized by mainland police.

Zhang Zhijun, head of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council talked Tuesday afternoon with Taiwan’s mainland affairs chief Andrew Hsia via a hotline.

Zhang said telecom and Internet fraud have been rampant in recent years. Several Taiwan suspects allegedly conducted fraudulent activities from overseas bases that led to huge losses from mainland victims and they must be brought to justice. Zhang said that the mainland had informed authorities on the island of the situation related to these fraud cases.

At a media briefing Wednesday morning, the State Council’s Taiwan Affair Office says the move is a response to public outcry.

"Because the Chinese mainland and Taiwan handle criminal suspects separately, a lot of repeat offenders from the Taiwan side involved in telecommunications fraud have not received their due punishment. And the money cannot be retrieved,” said An Fengshan, spokesman of State Council Taiwan Affairs Office.

"There were also several suspects released once they were returned to Taiwan, some of them started the criminal activities again overseas. The public of the Chinese mainland has voiced opposition and called to crack down on those criminal suspects, and get their money back.”