Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) met former Philippine senator Manuel Roxas in Taipei yesterday. Roxas was here to explain the incident in which the Philippines extradited 14 Taiwanese fraud suspects to China. Perhaps the press have got it wrong, or the governments of Taiwan and the Philippines are deliberately muddying the waters, but I find the fact that Roxas is being referred to as a “special envoy” a little confusing.
The 1969 UN Convention on Special Missions defines a special mission as “a temporary mission, representing the State, which is sent by one State to another State with the consent of the latter for the purpose of dealing with it on specific questions or of performing in relation to it a specific task.” No such relations exist between Taiwan and the Philippines?
The Philippines never said it was sending a special envoy, and from what I gather Roxas is merely here as a “troubleshooter.” It seems that Manila has been taken aback by Taiwan’s reaction to the incident, and seen fit to send a representative to explain and mend fences — not apologize. The Philippines must know that Taipei wants an official apology, together with assurances that it will not deport Taiwanese to China again, otherwise there is a danger the situation will snowball.
Manila has already acknowledged that the problem stemmed from a breakdown in interdepartmental communication. However, considering the result was a considerable embarrassment for Taiwan, and caused significant damage to its sovereignty, the Philippines should apologize and offer assurances it will not happen again.
It is possible the government is going along with the game for now, willing to meet the “special envoy” even before the Philippines has offered an official apology. However, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) has made it clear that this apology is a precondition. What, then, if the Philippines still declines? The administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should make it clear to the Philippines that if no apology is forthcoming, Philippine laborers will not be allowed to apply for work in Taiwan, effective immediately.
A solution needs to be found, firstly, to improve our position vis-a-vis future sanctions, and second, to avoid a situation in which the government is unable to operate effectively.
There is no need to be coy about this; many large companies in Taiwan have made it clear their business operations will suffer if Philippine laborers are banned.
If the Philippines digs in and the government backs down, opportunistic companies and labor brokers will capitalize on the situation, forcing the administration to withdraw its new policy of extending the work application process for Philippine laborers to four months.
If this happened, then the government would lose face both in Taiwan and abroad.
Apart from barring Philippine laborers, the government could also review trade ties between Taipei and Manila, and be prepared to hold back on economic assistance or Taiwanese investment projects. This is the only way we can let the Philippines know that if its government refuses to apologize, there will be serious consequences.
If the government remains determined to uphold Taiwanese sovereignty and protect its citizens, then Taiwanese will surely understand, regardless of what happens with the Philippines, and accept that the Ma administration has done everything possible. However, if the government declines to take action, we will be a laughing stock. No one will take our sovereignty seriously, and that could endanger our citizens.
Chiang Huang-chih is a professor of law at National Taiwan University.
TRANSLATED BY PAUL COOPER AND DREW CAMERON
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