Taiwan appears to have softened its stance in the dispute with the Philippines, with Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) saying that there was no need for Taipei to demand that the Philippines apologizes for deporting 14 Taiwanese fraud suspects to China.
Yang’s comments sparked outrage yesterday among Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, who demanded that he step down.
Taiwan, which had repeatedly demanded a formal apology from the Philippine government since Manila deported the 14 to China on Feb. 2, seems to have changed its stance after a visit to Taipei on Monday by Philippine presidential envoy Manuel Roxas.
Roxas did not meet Taiwan’s request for an apology, saying it was “beyond his mandate.”
A “fact sheet” agreed on by Roxas and Taiwanese officials after their 12-hour marathon meeting on Monday night stated that any Philippine officials who are found to have mishandled the case would be held accountable and possibly reprimanded.
For the Taiwan side, this “would signify a kind of apology,” the statement read.
“I can’t remember any time in my diplomatic career that I’ve seen one country officially ‘apologize’ to another ... and an apology takes many forms,” Yang said on Wednesday.
Citing the example of the dispute between the US and China over a mid-air collision of two of their aircraft, Yang said Washington only told China that it was “sorry” but it never issued a formal apology.
In the Taiwan-Philippines case, the dispute sprang from an issue of judicial jurisdiction, not sovereignty, he said.
Yang said that as far as he could remember, “Taiwan and the Philippines did not touch on the ‘A’ word’ [referring to the word ‘apology’] and I hope people do not get too emotional.”
Saying “Taiwanese should be rational in their reaction to the unfortunate incident,” Yang added: “Taiwan and the Philippines have a wide range of ties and exchanges, and relations are too important to be sacrificed to a disagreement over one word.”
Several DPP lawmakers accused Yang of bringing shame to Taiwan.
“This government really makes me want to say the ‘F’ word,” DPP caucus whip Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said.
The DPP lawmakers also said Philippine President Benigno Aquino III’s comments on Wednesday were a “serious setback” to Taiwan’s diplomatic efforts and they demanded that Yang step down to shoulder responsibility for the incident.
Aquino expressed optimism that the Philippine-Taiwan rift would be resolved without Manila having to apologize.
“They were asking for us to apologize and I don’t believe that there is something we have to apologize for, given the circumstances,” Aquino said after Roxas left Taipei.
Saying Aquino’s remarks “fully demonstrated that Manila has been unfriendly toward the government and people of Taiwan,” Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑), convener of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) caucus, said that under the circumstances, the Taiwanese government should “immediately freeze the hiring of Philippine workers until the Philippines changes its mind and demonstrates its ‘goodwill’ toward Taiwan.”
Council of Labor Affairs Deputy Minister Pan Shih-wei (潘世偉) said the council was ready to ban migrant Philippine workers, and local businesses had given their assurance that they would support such a ban if necessary.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with China, which was angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a survival-threatening situation for Japan, triggering a military response. Japan and the Philippines have also had separate territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East and South China
RSS