Manila and Taipei close case of murdered fisherman
Taipei (AsiaNews) - "We are pleased that all diplomatic disagreements have ended in a peaceful and constructive manner", stated representatives of the government of Taipei and Manila yesterday afternoon, after concluding a summit meeting convened to settle the issue of Taiwanese fisherman killed by the Philippine Navy.
Yesterday morning Amadeo Perez
Jr., special envoy of the President Philippine, presented an official apology
to the family of Hung Shih-cheng (洪石成) victim of the shooting targeting his fishing
boat on 9 May.
The
Taiwanese government has removed the 11 punitive measures against the
Philippine government, as Manila "responded positively" to the four
requests made after the killing of Hung Shih-cheng. They
were: a formal apology, punishment of those responsible for the assassination,
economic compensation to the Hung family and opening of bilateral talks on
fishing in the disputed area to prevent other similar incidents in the future.
Foreign Minister David Lin (林 永乐) during the press conference said that
"the Philippine government has shown goodwill by responding positively to
the requests of our government, so the 11 punitive measures are revoked with
immediate effect."
Punitive
measures, which included an interruption in the approval of new visas for
Filipino workers needed for entry into Taiwan, along with the interruption of
other bilateral trade, had been made operational as of May 15, when Manila had failed
to respond to
the four requests received in response to the killing of Hung Shih-cheng.
The Philippines National Bureau
of Investigation announced on Wednesday that murder charges will be made against
eight people in the Coast Guard responsible for the shooting and added that the
sentences will be imposed as soon as possible.
Yesterday,
Minister Lin and Benigno Aquino III's envoy Amadeo Perez Jr. met for about an
hour in the office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan. As
a result, a meeting between delegations of the two governments to continue the
dialogue started on June 14 in Manila will be held in Taipei in a month. On
that occasion there was absolute agreement on the need to avoid the use of
force in case of encounter in waters under dispute. In
addition, it was decided to develop a mechanism that would allow the immediate
notification of the other party in the case of any problem or accident.
As
stated by President Ma Ying-jeou (马英九) two months ago, "constructive diplomatic
meetings and bilateral agreements are always essential steps towards a full
mutual understanding." His
government had in April reached an important agreement on fishing rights with
the Japanese government after years of negotiations between Taipei and Tokyo.
.png)
21/08/2018 09:27
