Taiwan will lift sanctions on Philippines if requests met
ROC Central News Agency
2013/06/26 15:51:38
Taipei, June 26 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou said Wednesday that the government will lift its sanctions on the Philippines if Manila responds positively to Taiwan's requests with regard to the May 9 shooting death of a Taiwanese fisherman by Philippine coast guard personnel.
Ma said the government stands firm on its position that the Philippine government should offer a formal apology, compensate the victim's family, investigate the case and bring those responsible to justice, and open fishery negotiations with Taiwan.
He stressed that these are reasonable requests that are consistent with the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and the U.N. Charter.
"We are waiting for a response from the Philippines. If there is a positive response, we definitely will lift the sanctions," Ma said while addressing a military commissioning and promotion ceremony.
The shooting took place in waters about 40 nautical miles east of Balintang Island in the northern Philippines.
Manila has contended that the Taiwanese boat was poaching in its waters, while Taipei argues that the boat was operating in Taiwan's exclusive economic zone.
On May 15, Taiwan imposed a series of retaliatory measures against the Philippines, which include suspending the importation of Filipino workers, issuing a red travel alert for the Philippines and suspending high-level exchanges between the two countries.
Also halted were bilateral economic exchanges, agricultural and fishery cooperation, technology research exchange and cooperation projects, aviation rights negotiations and visa-free treatment for Filipinos.
The two sides have completed their respective investigations into the case but have yet to release their reports or bring charges against those responsible for the death of the Taiwanese fisherman, Hung Shih-cheng.
They have also begun talks on fishing rights in waters where the two countries' exclusive economic zones overlap, which they hope will lead to a formal fishery agreement. The first meeting was held June 14.
The president noted that Taiwan signed a similar fishery agreement with Japan in April that gave Taiwanese fishermen an additional 4,530 square kilometers near the disputed Diaoyutai Islands in which they can operate free of harassment by the Japanese authorities.
The agreement provides a tentative resolution to the decades-long fishery dispute between the two countries without undermining each other's territorial claims over the Diaoyutais, he said.
He pledged that the government will continue its efforts to protect Taiwanese fishermen who are operating legally in the country's exclusive economic zone and on the high seas.
On the service trade agreement signed recently with China, Ma said the pact is part of the government's efforts to boost the development of Taiwan's services industry, which accounts for 76 percent of the country's gross domestic product.
The government will pay attention to the possible negative impact caused by the competition of Chinese companies on local businesses, he said, adding that the Ministry of Economic Affairs has earmarked a NT$95.2 billion budget to provide the necessary assistance to the affected businesses.
Meanwhile, the president said the government's efforts to improve cross-Taiwan Strait relations over the past five years are in the interests of Taiwan, China and the United States.
Such efforts have obtained full support from Washington, and U.S. President Barack Obama also gave strong backing to improved cross-strait ties during his recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, he said.
Ma, however, reiterated that despite the easing of cross-strait tensions, Taiwan must not relax its push for a military buildup, saying that the country must maintain sufficient defense capabilities to protect itself against outside threats.
(By Chen Pei-huang and Y.F. Low)
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