Talks on a fishery agreement between Taiwan and the Philippines can begin immediately, and should not be affected by the ongoing investigation into the incident that resulted in the death of Taiwanese fisherman Hung Shih-cheng (洪石成), President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday.
In an interview with Chinese-language broadcaster China Television scheduled to air today, Ma insisted that the Philippine government should offer a formal apology for Philippine Coast Guard personnel’s shooting of a Taiwanese fishing boat on May 9 in overlapping territorial waters, and promise to compensate Hung’s family.
However, negotiations on a fishery agreement can still begin at any time, as such an agreement would provide fishermen from both sides with more guidelines and protection while operating in disputed waters.
Photo: CNA
“Negotiation on a bilateral fishery agreement doesn’t have to wait until the shooting investigation is over,” he said.
Ma made the comments in response to Philippine President Benigno Aquino III’s remarks yesterday that his administration will start fishery talks with Taiwan and other neighboring countries once the shooting incident is resolved.
Ma said the four demands his administration gave to Manila — to apologize for the incident, punish those responsible for the killing, compensate the victim’s family and start negotiation on fisheries agreement — had not been met, so the 11 sanctions Taiwan has imposed against the Philippines would continue.
“The Philippine government said it is still investigating the incident, but it should make its stance on the matter clear now. Our demands are reasonable and the Philippine government needs to apologize to Taiwanese citizens,” he said.
Taipei and Manila have agreed to cooperate while carrying out separate investigations into the incident under a bilateral mutual judicial assistance agreement signed earlier this year and both sides are negotiating over how to cooperate before each sends an investigative team to the other side to complete their individual investigation reports.
Later in the day, while presiding over a Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Central Standing Committee meeting, Ma said the government did not want the incident to affect Taiwan’s relations with the Philippines, but that Taipei would also not allow any similar incidents to happen again.
“We cannot rely solely on others’ goodwill. We must rely on our own strength. It is the government’s duty to protect the rights and safety of our fisherman, and the Coast Guard Administration will continue to patrol wherever our fishermen are operating,” he said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂), who presented a report on the ministry’s handling of the incident at the committee meeting, called on Taiwanese to treat Filipino workers in Taiwan reasonably and with friendliness, even as he emphasized that two stories about Filipino workers being denied food by vendors had turned out to be false.
Ma said he has instructed government agencies to protect Filipino workers.
“We are a civilized society, and we should not shift the blame for the Philippine government’s unjust actions the Filipino people living in Taiwan,” he said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
RSS