Manila: President Benigno Aquino's envoy apologised to Taiwanese officials for deporting 14 Taiwanese nationals to mainland China earlier this month, but Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou was angered by a contrary statement made by a Philippine government spokesman about the issue, reports said.

Former Senator Manuel Roxas told President Ma, "We deeply regret this [incident which occurred early February]," a source from the office of Roxas said.

But President Ma was also quoted as saying in Taipei that the Philippine government must "take responsibility for its mistake of deporting 14 Taiwanese to China and face trial there for alleged $20-million [Dh73.4 million] scam that had targeted mainland Chinese nationals".

‘Strongly angered'

"Taiwan's government and people are strongly angered," the Taiwanese president added.

While Roxas and Ma were holding a dialogue in Taiwan, Edwin Lacierda, Aquino's spokesman, said in Manila that there was no need for the Philippine government to apologise over the deportation row. "We believe in the process that we undertook," Lacierda said in a TV interview.

"We asked them [arrested Taiwanese nationals] for their identification and they claimed they were Taiwanese but as we understand it, they failed to produce any identification that they were Taiwanese nationals. That was the reason why they were repatriated to China," explained Lacierda.

Following the row, there was threat of Taiwan imposing a labour freeze. Council of Labou Affairs (CLA) Chairman Wang Ju-shuan was quoted as saying in Taiwan, "If the negotiations on the deportation row are not going as well as expected, then the CLA will take the most severe measures."

Sanctions would include across-the-board freeze on the hiring of Filipino worker, the CLA's report said.

Brief meeting

Roxas and Taiwan's foreign minister Timothy Yang met briefly on Monday, prior to Roxas' meeting with the Taiwanese president.

Roxas's mission was to placate angry Taiwanese officials over the deportation row, which was exacerbated by statements of several Philippine officials who said the Philippine government must continue to uphold its one-China policy.

There are more than 70,000 Fililpino workers in Taiwan. They are part of an estimated 9 million overseas Filipino workers who send about $18 billion (Dh66.2 billion) to $21 billion to their loved ones in the Philippines annually.

After a long civil war, China and Taiwan were separated in 1949. The Philippines forged diplomatic ties with China in 1975, but it has maintained cultural and economic links with Taiwan.