Three Indonesian fishers stranded in Mauritius have been compensated for wages owed and repatriated with the help of the Fisheries Agency, two years after they were stranded by their Taiwanese employer, the agency said yesterday.
The Indonesians returned home last week, after which they were paid their salaries, it said.
Officials opened multi-channel negotiations with the distant-water fishing ship operator, labor brokers and governments to compensate and repatriate the fishers, the agency said.
Photo: Taipei Times
Mauritian law mandates that at least three crew members attend commercial vessel berthed in the Indian Ocean nation, the Fisheries Agency said.
The Indonesians were stranded after the Taiwanese operator failed to relieve them, it said.
Officials secured a deal with the Mauritian government to allow another company to furnish replacements for the three fishers while the labor broker agreed to arrange the back pay, it said.
The vessel was still in Mauritius.
The agency fined the ship’s operator NT$250,000 and suspended its license for two months, citing wage theft dating to October last year, it said.
The ship operator has not paid the fine and officials are pursuing additional penalties, the agency said.
The operator’s actions constitute a grave breach of its employees’ rights and officials are mulling steep penalties, it said, adding that it would not turn a blind eye to exploitation.
Law enforcement officials have launched a separate probe into possible human trafficking charges against the ship’s operator, the agency said.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS