Arrests at iPhone 16 assembly plant send chilling signal to Taiwanese in China

A trapped ion system is demonstrated during Foxconn’s technology day in Taipei, Taiwan, October 8, 2024. ANN WANG / REUTERS The four executives from Taiwan were employees of Foxconn, the Taiwanese contracting giant that produces for Apple in China. Two were based in Zhengzhou, in central China, where the most important factory on the planet for the Californian brand is located because it notably produces the iPhone 16, and two lived in Shenzhen, the tech city on the border with Hong Kong. All of them worked on the engineering and supplier management of the assembly line for the latest iPhone. Plainclothes police officers came to arrest them at the Foxconn premises, one in January, another in March and two in April. They were accused of breach of trust and embezzlement, even though Foxconn says it has suffered no loss or damage. Taiwanese authorities have called the case “strange” and fear police “abuse of power.” Relatives suspect a form of ransom. The case of the four Foxconn employees sends a chilling signal for Taiwanese residing for professional or family reasons on the continent. “It has become risky to be Taiwanese in China. They left for work one morning then disappeared to find themselves accused of being thugs. If this happens to people at Foxconn, it can happen to anyone. Apple should be directly concerned about their case,” one of their close associates told Le Monde. According to our information, the employees were detained with their lights on, one of them very tall kept in a particularly small cell, and forced to make forced confessions of criminal acts, which they had to modify if they did not correspond to the demands. police officers. Military exercises The affair comes as relations continue to deteriorate in the strait where Beijing, which claims the island as one of its provinces, has been increasing its warnings since a new president was elected in Taipei in January particularly critical of Chinese power, Lai Ching-te. The Chinese army thus launched, on Monday October 14, new military exercises simulating a blockade of the island’s ports and strikes “on targets at sea and on land”, operations presented as a “serious warning” to the with regard to Taiwan, which has declared a heightened state of alert. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Taiwan: the new president calls on China to renounce force Add to your selections For several months, Taiwan has feared that China would use the detention of certain of its nationals as a means of pressure against President Lai. In June, Taiwanese authorities advised people to avoid traveling to China unless absolutely necessary. That same month, Beijing presented a new directive allowing for penalties of up to life imprisonment or execution for activities relating to “secession” on Taiwan. On August 26, a Taiwanese resident in China to participate in go competitions, Yang Chih-yuan, was sentenced to nine years in prison for having, in the past, created a small political party in Taiwan and campaigned for the recognition of the island as a State at the United Nations. You have 41.37% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.



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