Taiwan: Noy flip-flops on joint probe on shooting

From the Daily Tribune (May 20): Taiwan: Noy flip-flops on joint probe on shooting

Taiwan accused yesterday President Aquino of having flip-flopped on a joint investigation into the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by Philippine coastguards, an incident which has ignited a major diplomatic dispute.

A team of Taiwanese investigators returned to the island Saturday, accusing the Philippine government of failing to honor its agreement to conduct a joint probe and after issuing a report that alleged fisherman Hung Shih-cheng was murdered by the law enforcers.

“The decision to send the investigators to Manila came only after the Philippine government had agreed to let us to do so,” deputy justice minister Chen Ming-tang told reporters.

He said the country’s de facto ambassador Antonio Basilio had agreed to such a move in Taipei on Wednesday, but Basilio’s country had now wavered on the proposal.
Chen said a joint inquiry was the only way to establish the truth about the May 9 fatal shooting of Hung, a 65-year-old crewman on the fishing boat.

“While our investigators can provide them with evidence they have collected, Filipino investigators can come to Taiwan to gather evidence, including talking to the other witnesses on board the fishing boat at the time of the shooting,” the deputy minister said.

The Coast Guard said the fishing vessel intruded into Philippine waters and tried to ram its own patrol boat.

Chen denied any intrusion, citing a voyage data recorder on the fishing boat.

Taiwan rejected Manila’s apology and slapped sanctions on the Philippines, including a ban on the hiring of new workers, recalling its own envoy and staging a drill in waters off the northern Philippines.

It is angry at the government’s description of the death as “unintended”. Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou has termed the killing “cold-blooded murder”, referring to more than 50 bullet holes in the fishing boat.

Amadeo Perez, a personal envoy from Aquino was forced to return home Thursday after Taipei rejected the apology he conveyed from the president.

Taipei has repeatedly pressed Manila to issue a formal government apology, to compensate the fisherman’s family and to apprehend the killer.

Ma instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice to continue negotiating with the Philippines for a joint investigation, a Taipeh Times report said.

“President Ma believes that the incident requires both sides to cooperate with each other on the investigation pragmatically, and only by doing so can the truth be revealed,” the publication quoted Presidential Office spokesman Lee Chia-fei as saying after the conclusion of a meeting on national security that Ma had attended.

A Taiwanese investigative team returned from Manila yesterday after making little headway in its probe. The delegation — consisting of prosecutors and officials from the justice and foreign ministries, and Taiwan’s Fisheries Agency — had arrived in Manila on Thursday.

They tried to work with Philippine government officials to set up a joint investigation into the incident, but failed to reach a consensus.

After the Taiwanese team returned yesterday without having made any progress, Ma called for the continuation of talks between the two nations, saying that the incident was an opportunity for Taiwan and the Philippines to implement the mutual legal assistance agreement they signed earlier this year.

Lee said that Ma had asked the foreign and justice ministries to seek a consensus with Manila based on the principle of reciprocity.

She stressed that the negotiations had not failed and said the government’s investigation team would continue its efforts to find the truth when the Philippines is “ready.”

Yesterday’s national security meeting was the third one held since last week.

Earlier yesterday, at a news conference at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport held shortly after the delegation’s return, Chen Wen-chi, head of the Ministry of Justice’s Department of International and Cross-Strait Legal Affairs, said the delegation had made some progress on initiating a judicial investigation with the Philippine Department of Justice, but that further negotiations were needed, according to Taipeh Times.

In addition, citing the navigational record of the Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28, Chen said that the incident had occurred while the boat was in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone and that it had not entered the Philippines’ territorial waters.

Taiwanese investigators’ findings contradict the Philippines’ claims that the shots were fired in self-defense after the Taiwanese boat tried to ram it, she added.

http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/headlines/item/14319-taiwan-noy-flip-flops-on-joint-probe-on-shooting