Taiwan reacts to this column of May 27

We were forwarded a letter from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (Teco), which is Taiwan’s unofficial consulate in the Philippines, reacting to our column of May 27 (“Fish is at root of rows with Taiwan, China”) on the diplomatic row between the two countries. The row stemmed from the shooting death of a Taiwanese fisherman in a Taiwanese fishing vessel that, according to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), tried to ram its ship in the waters around the Batanes islands. In the letter, Teco denied that the Taiwanese are harassing overseas Filipino workers in their country.

It said: “[The Taiwan government has] pledged to do all the necessary measures to protect the well-being of the OFWs. President Ma Ying-jeou … stated on May 17, 2013, that the government will protect the OFWs from all possible threats and discrimination. Mistreated OFWs can contact 1955, the 24/7 toll-free Counseling and Protection hotline set up by the Council of Labor Affairs of Taiwan, to report any form of harassment that they experience. So far, isolated incidents of harassment of Filipinos in Taiwan have been promptly resolved, with the suspects caught and … going through legal procedure, and the victims properly compensated. Some of the alleged reports have been proven to be hoaxes, while some are still unverified.”

On the issue that the fisherman’s death was “accidental” on the part of the PCG, the Teco said “a revisit of the evidence is essential.”

The fishing boat, Teco said, “was found to have sustained 59 bullet holes, mostly on the left side and the back part. Following this evidence, it is evident that the PCG vessel crew continuously shot [at the fishing boat] while they are both in continuous motion. Aside from this, there were a total of 24 bullet holes found in the cockpit, where the fishermen were hiding during the shooting spree. All of the aforementioned facts only suggest that the PCG intentionally exercised force to kill. As for the ramming accusation, by common logic and sense, an unarmed and a much smaller civilian fishing boat which only weighs 15 tons is quite unlikely to attempt ramming into a much bigger, armed, 115-ton vessel. Unless the PCG is able to produce evidence to support this claim, it cannot be verified.”

On the issue of the Taiwanese fishing boat’s alleged poaching when it was spotted by the PCG vessel, Teco said the shooting “did not happen in the Philippine territorial waters. As shown in the Vessel Data Recorder (VDR), the unarmed and much smaller fishing boat was continuously fired upon by a bigger, fully armed, and better equipped PCG vessel at N 20º, E 123º, 164 nautical miles away from Erluanbi, the southernmost tip of Taiwan, and 39 nautical miles from Batanes island. According to Unclos (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), a coastal country cannot claim waters beyond 12 nautical miles, and thus the area is still within the [Taiwan] Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). However, as Taiwan and the Philippines have overlapping EEZs, the area where the incident happened is considered disputed waters. Thus, the reason why there is a need for both countries to start talks on a fisheries agreement.”

Teco also said I had been misinformed about the status of the parallel investigations, that Taiwan is blocking the entry of Filipino investigators to Taiwan, “implying that [Taiwan] is deliberately impeding the investigation process to put the Philippines in a situation between a rock and a hard place.”

“We would like to note,” Teco said, “that upon firming out the particulars of the parallel probes, the investigating teams from both sides were given the authorization to depart and start the investigation…

“Aside from this, we would also like to emphasize that our government is in no way impeding the legal process. Our preliminary investigation results have been released and are open to the public at the onset of the case. By the same token, we are continuously urging the Philippine government to conduct a thorough but expeditious investigation so that justice may be served to the victim’s family. After all, justice delayed is still justice denied.”

As to why Taiwan rejected the initial apologies by the Philippines, Teco said that since “the May 9 shooting incident was carried out by a few civil servants from the Philippine Coast Guard, an official Philippine government agency, the apology should then be issued by the Philippine government itself. The Philippine people are not at fault for the shooting death [of the Taiwanese fisherman]. We cannot accept an informal apology for an incident that is officially carried out by a few civil servants from a government agency. Furthermore, we find it unacceptable that the incident was deemed by the Philippine government as ‘an unintended loss of life’ and not the intended murder as the evidences suggest it is…”

“Taiwan is not bullying the Philippines,” Teco continued. “Our requirements have been based on the value of human life, and respect for human rights and the international laws. The death of one man under the given circumstances is, in itself, a violation of international laws. Judging by human morality, a loss of life can never be justified.

“Our requirements are simple, we are only asking for the Philippine government to issue a formal apology, to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation and to punish the perpetrators, to provide compensation for the family of the victim, and to launch the bilateral fishery negotiation so this kind of tragedy will not happen again”.

Aha, so I was correct, after all. The root of the row between the two countries is FISH.