The decision by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration at 10am yesterday morning to punish the Philippines for its failure to meet Taipei’s demands regarding the killing of a fisherman by Philippine Coast Guard personnel came 10 hours later than the government had promised.
After handing out a 72-hour ultimatum for Manila to positively respond to demands on Sunday at 12am, government officials repeatedly vowed to implement three punitive measures against the Philippines if it failed to meet the deadline.
At a press conference at 10am yesterday, following a National Security Council meeting called by Ma at 7am, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said he was “sorry” that the government did not adhere to the deadline, but denied any change in the government’s stance toward the Philippines’ response.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
It was “inappropriate” that the punitive measures against the Philippines were announced after midnight on Tuesday, Jiang said.
Manila’s response, delivered by Manila Economic and Culture Office Managing Director Antonio Basilio to Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) at 8pm on Tuesday, was subject to revisions after five hours of negotiations.
The response was presented in a letter addressed to Lin by Basilio.
Jiang said the content of the letter was finalized at 11:30pm, after both Lin and Basilio had consulted with government officials.
However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff took extra time to complete the text, both in English and in Chinese, so the meeting continued past the deadline, Jiang said.
The press conference following the negotiations was held at 1am on Wednesday, during which Lin said that Taipei took Manila’s response as “positive,” but that there were some points that “needed to be clarified.”
Lin said at that time that the government would have an inter-agency meeting to examine whether the response met the government’s expectations.
However, Jiang said he knew as soon as the letter was finalized that the response would be “unsatisfactory” to the government.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had updated both Ma and Jiang in real time during the negotiations with Basilio.
“Because the meeting finished very late, we had no time to have a National Security Council meeting to examine the response,” Jiang said.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner