The Ministry of Justice yesterday said it has rejected a request by the Philippines to send investigators to Taiwan to interview the crew of the Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28 and conduct another autopsy on the body of the fisherman shot dead by Philippine Coast Guard personnel.
Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂) told a press conference that the ministry had received a letter from the Philippines requesting legal assistance from Taiwan for its investigation into the May 9 shooting death of Taiwanese fisherman Hung Shih-cheng (洪石成) in waters where the two countries’ exclusive economic zones overlap.
Chen said in the letter the Philippine agreed to allow Taiwanese investigators to board the Philippines vessel where the shots fired at the Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28 came from and also agreed to allow Taiwanese investigators to inspect the firearms used in the incident and compare ballistics results with those obtained by Philippine investigators.
Photo: AFP
Chen said the ministry saw these offers as a positive development.
However, Manila also expressed the hope that its investigators could meet with the crew of the Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28, take their statements and conduct another autopsy, he said.
The ministry could not agree to those requests because Manila’s letter did not respond to Taiwan’s earlier requests for Taiwanese investigators to see a video of the incident shot by the Philippine boat and for Taiwanese investigators to interview Philippine Coast Guard officers, Chen said.
The ministry felt that the two sides have not reached consensus and that mutual legal assistance has not been conducted under the principles of equality and reciprocity, he said, so it felt the proposal to send an investigation team to Taiwan should be delayed.
Negotiations are continuing, Chen said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) Chairman Amadeo Perez has clarified media reports that he mentioned the Philippines’ “one China” policy in his public remarks about Hung’s death.
The foreign ministry said in a press release that it received a letter from MECO on Tuesday night saying there had not been any mention of a “one China” policy in Perez’s public statements or interviews with regard to the fatal incident.
However, the foreign ministry declined to disclose the contents of the letter. Spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) said that it was not proper to reveal the contents because the missive was an official letter between MECO and its counterpart, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Manila.
MECO’s Taipei office confirmed it had received the letter, but also refused to reveal its contents.
The letter was a reply to inquiries made by Taiwan seeking clarification of Perez’s comments on a “one China” policy, the Taipei office said.
Hung’s death led the government to impose 11 sanctions on Manila after it felt dissatisfied with the Philippines’ responses to its four demands.
The first of those demands was “a formal apology from the Philippine government.”
Perez traveled to Taipei last week as Philippine President Benigno Aquino III’s personal representative to convey his deep regrets and apology to the family of Hung and the people of Taiwan over the incident and the “unintended” loss of life.
Taiwan did not accept the apology because Perez described the incident as “unintended.”
An official familiar with the matter said last week that the government had planned to accept the apology made by Aquino through Perez as a formal apology from the Philippine government, but it could not accept his use of the term “unintended.”
After returning to Manila from Taipei, Perez told DZMM radio that Taiwan’s government wanted Aquino to write a personal letter of apology, but this could be considered a violation of the Philippines’ “one China policy, according to an Agence France-Presse report on Sunday.
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
STANDING TOGETHER: Amid China’s increasingly aggressive activities, nations must join forces in detecting and dealing with incursions, a Taiwanese official said Two senior Philippine officials and one former official yesterday attended the Taiwan International Ocean Forum in Taipei, the first high-level visit since the Philippines in April lifted a ban on such travel to Taiwan. The Ocean Affairs Council hosted the two-day event at the National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center. Philippine Navy spokesman Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, Coast Guard spokesman Grand Commodore Jay Tarriela and former Philippine Presidential Communications Office assistant secretary Michel del Rosario participated in the forum. More than 100 officials, experts and entrepreneurs from 15 nations participated in the forum, which included discussions on countering China’s hybrid warfare
MORE DEMOCRACY: The only solution to Taiwan’s current democratic issues involves more democracy, including Constitutional Court rulings and citizens exercising their civil rights , Lai said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is not the “motherland” of the Republic of China (ROC) and has never owned Taiwan, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. The speech was the third in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to deliver across Taiwan. Taiwan is facing external threats from China, Lai said at a Lions Clubs International banquet in Hsinchu. For example, on June 21 the army detected 12 Chinese aircraft, eight of which entered Taiwanese waters, as well as six Chinese warships that remained in the waters around Taiwan, he said. Beyond military and political intimidation, Taiwan