SEF asks China to look into Shanghai slaughter

The Straits Exchange Foundation yesterday asked its counterpart in China to hunt down the killers of a Taiwanese family in Shanghai.

China-based Taiwanese businessman Soong Yu (宋鈺), his wife Lin Hui-chun (林惠君) and their four-year-old daughter were found dead in their home in suburban Shanghai on Monday morning.

"Please mobilize the relevant agencies as soon as possible in order to bring the killers to justice," the foundation said in a letter to the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS).

"Soong's relatives were totally devastated upon hearing the news. Please give them whatever assistance they need upon their arrival," the letter said.

According to initial investigations, Soong, his wife and daughter were allegedly stabbed to death by two intruders who wanted to burgle their home. Two other people, believed to be from Shanghai, staying with the family, were injured.

The murders have alarmed the Taiwanese business community in Shanghai.

Soong was in the lighting and audio engineering business.

His brother Soong Chiang (宋鏘) and other family members were due to arrive in Shanghai last night and today.

According to the foundation, the murders of the Soong family brought to 61 the number of Taiwanese murdered in China since 1991.

Since that year, 36 Taiwanese businesspeople in China died from accidents or illness and 105 had gone missing.

Another Taiwanese had been threatened, robbed or blackmailed and 47 had been kidnapped or held illegally.

Senior of major Taiwanese trade associations in China yesterday urged the authorities there to better protect the safety of businesspeople from Taiwan and their families.

Chang Han-wen (張漢文), president of the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce in Dongguang, Guangdong Province, said he would take full advantage of a western China investment promotion activity in Xining, Qinghai, today to persuade Chinese authorities to adopt concrete measures to improve the safety and security of Taiwanese businesspeople.

The promotional program is jointly organized by the Chinese State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office and the West China Development Office to woo Taiwanese investment in the Qinghai region.

"We'll meet with Taiwan Affairs Office Deputy Director Li Bingcai (李炳才) and other senior officials during the Qinghai investment seminar. We'll ask them to work out initiatives to improve safety," Chang said.

Shanghai authorities said they have mobilized all available manpower to investigate the case and will do whatever they can to bring all those involved to justice as early as possible.