Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the Philippine government’s decision on Wednesday to replace its acting head of immigration showed a deep regret on the country’s part over the incident and goodwill toward Taiwan.

In Manila, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda, however, said that the change of immigration chief did not have any connection with the deportation case.

“It was never in response to or in a way of appeasing the Taiwanese officials or the Taiwan government on what happened during the recent deportation incident. It is not related to that,” Lacierda told a news conference.

The row blew up last month after the Philippines sent the 14, who were facing fraud charges in a case that also involved mainland Chinese nationals, to Taiwan’s political rival China.

Taiwan said they should have been returned to the island and demanded an apology. Talks last month that lasted 11 hours between a special emissary of the Philippines and Taiwan officials failed to produce a result.

Under a “one China” policy, the Philippines recognizes Beijing and does not have official diplomatic ties with Taiwan, although it has an economic and cultural office in Taipei.

Manila is trying to boost ties with Beijing, but faced calls from groups representing Filipino workers overseas to safeguard jobs in Taiwan, where some 80,000 Filipinos work.

Ricardo David, a Philippine army general who retired as head of the 130,000-member military on Monday, will become head of the Bureau of Immigration from next week.

President Benigno Aquino had tasked him to stop human trafficking and crack down on foreign criminals, the presidential spokesman said.