The legislature yesterday gave preliminary approval to an agreement signed by Taiwan and Vietnam on judicial assistance amid concerns over ambiguity that the Judicial Yuan and lawmakers across party lines feared may favor Vietnam.
Because of these concerns, lawmakers on the legislature’s Foreign and National Affairs Committee appended a resolution to the agreement that said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) should negotiate with Vietnam should problems occur when implementing the treaty.
The agreement was signed by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Vietnam and the Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei on April 14 this year.
Wu Kuang-jau (吳光釗), a judge in the Civil Department of the Judicial Yuan, expressed disapproval of various items in the agreement, a rare move that saw government officials divided over a proposal referred by the executive branch to the legislature for deliberation.
Both Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers agreed with Wu’s concerns.
In accordance with the provisions of the agreement, Taiwan and Vietnam shall provide each other with legal assistance on civil matters in service of documents; investigation and taking of evidence; recognition and enforcement of judgments and decisions of the courts in civil matters and awards; and other matters stipulated by the agreement.
The civil matters referred to include civil, commercial, marital, family and labor matters.
MOFA Vice Minister David Lin (林永樂) said Taiwan and Vietnam needed the agreement because the number of lawsuits concerning civil matters has been on the rise in the past decade, in which 130,000 Vietnamese women married Taiwanese and a large number of Vietnamese workers came to the country. He added that there were more than 200,000 Vietnamese-Taiwanese.
“That there are about 420,000 Vietnamese in Taiwan necessitated the agreement,” Lin said.
Having failed to incorporate the Judicial Yuan’s suggestions into the agreement when it was negotiated with Vietnam, Wu told lawmakers that some vague articles in the agreement gave rise to the concern that Vietnam might refuse to recognize or enforce judgments and decisions handed down by Taiwanese courts.
“It is expected that many court rulings made by Taiwanese courts won’t be implemented in Vietnam as we have no understanding of the judicial system in Vietnam,” Wu said.
DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said he doubted the agreement provided more protection for Vietnamese in Taiwan and added Taiwanese might have unequal access to justice through the judicial system in Vietnam.
He also questioned why the government signed an agreement on civil matters instead of one on criminal matters that could have included an extradition clause and a prisoner exchange clause — a far more urgent issue from the Taiwanese perspective, he said.
KMT Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) suggested appending the resolution and urged MOFA and the Ministry of Justice — the two agencies in charge of negotiating the agreement — to take the concerns raised by the Judicial Yuan seriously.
The agreement was the third such treaty Taiwan has signed with non-diplomatic allies, following the agreements on judicial assistance in criminal matters signed with the US in 2002 and on assistance in criminal and civil matters signed with China last year.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS