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Taiwan, Philippines to cooperate in shooting investigation

ROC Central News Agency

2013/05/19 21:26:56

Taipei, May 19 (CNA) Taiwan and the Philippines have agreed to cooperate on an investigation into the death of a Taiwanese fisherman at the hands of Philippine coast guard personnel, and the two sides are working out the details of the arrangement, Foreign Minister David Lin said Sunday.

The agreement was achieved during negotiations between a Taiwanese investigation team that was in Manila from May 16 to 18 and the Philippine government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The two sides are now negotiating how they will work together in trying to get to the bottom of the May 9 shooting, Lin told local media, describing the arrangement as a 'parallel investigation.'

'Under the principle of equality and reciprocity, we hope to achieve a consensus to find out the truth as soon as possible and punish the perpetrators,' Lin said.

Taiwan will again send an investigation team to Manila after details of the cooperative arrangement with the Philippines are finalized, he said.

Asked if there was a timetable for the departure of the investigation team, Lin did not give a definitive answer, saying only 'the sooner the better.' He rejected the suggestion that the team could leave for Manila as early as Monday.

Taipei and Manila have made requests of mutual legal assistance to each other and also agreed to let investigators from both sides to visit each other's country to look into the incident, Lin said.

This means that investigators from Taiwan and the Philippines can collect evidence and question people involved in the incident during their visits to each other's country, according to a diplomatic source.

Both sides will compile their own investigation reports and then compare their findings, Lin said.

The foreign minister's announcement came a day after the Taiwanese investigation team, consisting of prosecutors and officials from the justice and foreign ministries and the Fisheries Agency, returned to Taiwan after failing to advance its understanding of the case.

The Taiwanese investigators did, however, make some progress, a member of the investigation team said, resulting in an agreement on some form of cooperation.

Meanwhile, asked if Taiwan will lift the 11 sanctions it has imposed against the Philippines because of Manila's handling of the case, Lin said 'the sanctions will continue for the time being.'

'We hope they will give us a positive response in the near future,' he said.

(By Elaine Hou)
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