Academics and civil groups yesterday urged the government not to back down from what they called the “basic demands” in its negotiations with China over an investment protection deal aimed at ensuring fair treatment for the estimated 1 million Taiwanese investors and others working in China.
The pact is expected to be signed by the end of this month, and there has been growing concern over its contents, especially over the arbitration method specified for resolving disputes.
The Alliance of Supervising Cross-Strait Agreements held a press conference yesterday to outline the “worries” over the content that both sides have reportedly agreed to. It castigated the government for “narrowly” characterizing the security issue for Taiwanese businesspeople in China as simply a technical problem of arrest notification. The alliance also accused the government of abandoning its position on a third-party arbitration mechanism.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) has called the pact “a major breakthrough,” with Taiwan convincing China to agree to notify Taipei within 24 hours if anyone covered by the pact saw his or her freedom of movement restricted under certain circumstances, alliance convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said.
“We absolutely do not think that [this article] alone would protect personal liberty. More elements need to be included in the agreement,” Lai said.
The alliance demanded the government ask Beijing to promise to remove articles 64 and 72 of its Criminal Procedure Law, which would allow Chinese authorities not to carry out the 24-hour notification if they determine that such notice would hinder an investigation.
There must be speedy notification in all cases, without exception, the alliance said.
However, a notification mechanism alone would not be enough to protect Taiwanese from being tortured or forced to confess, the alliance said. Only ensuring visitation rights to family members and lawyers as well as Taiwanese officials during detention could ensure such protection, it said.
The government must also demand that China promise in the new agreement to revise its Criminal Procedure Law to entitle suspects to have an attorney present during any questioning, it said.
The alliance also called on the government to push China to phase out its pre-arrest administrative detention system, as stipulated in Article 69 of its Criminal Procedure Law.
“We have seen several cases of Taiwanese businesspeople being kept in prisons for a month or more before trial. The legislature has asked China to review the pre-arrest detention system, but China has remained deaf. If the agreement is to be signed, China must give a promise that it will phase out the system in three years,” Lai said.
Honigmann Hong (洪財隆), who is an assistant professor in National Tsing Hua University’s China studies program, urged the government to insist that any disputes under the new accord be brought before an impartial third party for arbitration, rather than employing a bilateral settlement mechanism.
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
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