The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel involved in the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman earlier this month should be tried for murder, a US academic said on Wednesday.
The incident “can’t be accidental,” as evidenced by the 59 bullets fired into the unarmed fishing boat Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28, said June Teufel Dreyer, a professor of political science at the University of Miami.
“It is most unfortunate. Incredible that it should happen at all. The Philippine Coast Guard person who fired those shots should be tried for murder,” Dreyer said.
The May 9 attack, which took place in waters where the exclusive economic zones of the two countries overlap, left 65-year-old fisherman Hung Shih-cheng (洪石成) dead and triggered a diplomatic row between Taiwan and the Philippines.
Taiwan has demanded that the Philippine government offer an official apology, punish those responsible, compensate the victim’s family and open bilateral negotiations on fishing rights.
Despite offering an apology in the name of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III on May 15, Manila nevertheless describes the killing as an “unintended loss of life” and has failed to address the three other demands to Tapei’s satisfaction.
Dreyer said the Philippine government should have issued an apology immediately to the government of Taiwan, not just to the people and the family of the victim. Refusing to do so is an insult to Taiwan’s sovereignty, she added.
Also, Manila should have refrained from further comment until after a joint Philippines-Taiwan investigation had revealed the facts of the case, she said.
“What the Philippine government has said prejudges an investigation: It decided on the ‘facts’ before seeing evidence,” Dreyer said.
For example, Manila has described the killing as “inadvertent,” saying that the intent of the shooting was to disable the fishing boat’s engine and that the Taiwanese vessel had intentionally rammed the Philippine Coast Guard boat, she said.
“One needn’t be a lawyer to know that this isn’t the way to handle a contested issue,” she said.
“How could anyone expect a fair examination of the facts when the government of the Philippines has already made these judgements?” she added.
The “idiocy” of the Philippine Coast Guard’s action is further compounded as the incident has given Beijing an excuse to put further pressure on Manila, Dreyer said.
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