The parallel investigations by Taiwan and the Philippines into the fatal shooting of Taiwanese fisherman Hung Shih-cheng (洪石成) by Philippine Coast Guard personnel on May 9 are intended to produce results both sides can agree on, Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂) said yesterday.
If the Philippines concludes its report based on the evidence found during the course of its investigation, once Taiwan completes its investigation then Taipei and Manila will have arrived at a consensus on the circumstances leading to the shooting, Chen said at a legislative committee meeting.
“Based on the rules of evidence-gathering and analysis, there can be only one truth,” Chen said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) said that under no circumstance could Philippine judicial personal deny that Philippine Coast Guard personnel applied excessive force against the Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28 that Hung was on because Taiwanese prosecutors have found 59 bullet holes riddling the fishing boat.
The Philippines and Taiwan yesterday started what Manila has termed a “parallel investigation” into the incident, with a team from the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation arriving in Taiwan yesterday and a group of Taiwanese investigators departing for Manila.
At a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Chen said Taiwan termed the way both sides work together to discover the truth behind the shooting as a “cooperative investigation.”
Following days of negotiation, Taipei and Manila agreed that they would discuss the findings of their respective investigations before releasing the reports, Chen Ming-tang said in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁).
Taipei and Manila will release separate reports, but the results of their probes should be the same, Chen Ming-tang said.
Chen Ming-tang said that the Taiwanese investigative team, led by Lin Yen-liang (林彥良), met with National Bureau of Investigation Director Nonnatus Caesar Rojas at 11am yesterday to finalize the team’s itinerary during their stay in Manila.
Immediately after the meeting, the team initiated their investigation by conducting a ballistics test, Chen Ming-tang said.
The Taiwanese team is to inspect the Philippine vessel involved in the incident today and they are scheduled to review video footage of the shooting and interrogate witnesses and suspects tomorrow, he said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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