HONG KONG — The government of Taiwan criticized Beijing on Monday after eight people from the island were deported to mainland China following a trial for fraud in Kenya.

The eight were part of a group of 37 from China and Taiwan who were acquitted of telecommunications, immigration and organized crime charges on April 5. Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused China of blocking the eight from returning to Taiwan, calling that an “illegal capture of people through uncivilized conduct,” and it said the move “seriously harmed the rights of the people involved,” according to a statement issued on Monday.

Taiwan has been self-ruled since 1949, when the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek fled the Chinese mainland after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong’s Communist forces. China considers Taiwan part of its territory and has sought to limit the island’s international presence, including blocking it from membership in global bodies and refusing to have diplomatic relations with countries that recognize it.