Academics and civil groups yesterday urged the government not to back down from what they called the “basic demands” in its negotiations with China over an investment protection deal aimed at ensuring fair treatment for the estimated 1 million Taiwanese investors and others working in China.
The pact is expected to be signed by the end of this month, and there has been growing concern over its contents, especially over the arbitration method specified for resolving disputes.
The Alliance of Supervising Cross-Strait Agreements held a press conference yesterday to outline the “worries” over the content that both sides have reportedly agreed to. It castigated the government for “narrowly” characterizing the security issue for Taiwanese businesspeople in China as simply a technical problem of arrest notification. The alliance also accused the government of abandoning its position on a third-party arbitration mechanism.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) has called the pact “a major breakthrough,” with Taiwan convincing China to agree to notify Taipei within 24 hours if anyone covered by the pact saw his or her freedom of movement restricted under certain circumstances, alliance convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said.
“We absolutely do not think that [this article] alone would protect personal liberty. More elements need to be included in the agreement,” Lai said.
The alliance demanded the government ask Beijing to promise to remove articles 64 and 72 of its Criminal Procedure Law, which would allow Chinese authorities not to carry out the 24-hour notification if they determine that such notice would hinder an investigation.
There must be speedy notification in all cases, without exception, the alliance said.
However, a notification mechanism alone would not be enough to protect Taiwanese from being tortured or forced to confess, the alliance said. Only ensuring visitation rights to family members and lawyers as well as Taiwanese officials during detention could ensure such protection, it said.
The government must also demand that China promise in the new agreement to revise its Criminal Procedure Law to entitle suspects to have an attorney present during any questioning, it said.
The alliance also called on the government to push China to phase out its pre-arrest administrative detention system, as stipulated in Article 69 of its Criminal Procedure Law.
“We have seen several cases of Taiwanese businesspeople being kept in prisons for a month or more before trial. The legislature has asked China to review the pre-arrest detention system, but China has remained deaf. If the agreement is to be signed, China must give a promise that it will phase out the system in three years,” Lai said.
Honigmann Hong (洪財隆), who is an assistant professor in National Tsing Hua University’s China studies program, urged the government to insist that any disputes under the new accord be brought before an impartial third party for arbitration, rather than employing a bilateral settlement mechanism.
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
SAFETY FIRST: Double the number of police were deployed at the Taipei Marathon, while other cities released plans to bolster public event safety Authorities across Taiwan have stepped up security measures ahead of Christmas and New Year events, following a knife and smoke bomb attack in Taipei on Friday that left four people dead and 11 injured. In a bid to prevent potential copycat incidents, police deployments have been expanded for large gatherings, transport hubs, and other crowded public spaces, according to official statements from police and city authorities. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city has “comprehensively raised security readiness” in crowded areas, increased police deployments with armed officers, and intensified patrols during weekends and nighttime hours. For large-scale events, security checkpoints and explosives
A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow yesterday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces.” The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head
PUBLIC SAFETY: The premier said that security would be tightened in transport hubs, while President Lai commended the public for their bravery The government is to deploy more police, including rapid response units, in crowded public areas to ensure a swift response to any threats, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after a knife attack killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei the previous day. Lai made the remarks following a briefing by the National Police Agency on the progress of the investigation, saying that the attack underscored the importance of cooperation in public security between the central and local governments. The attack unfolded in the early evening on Friday around Taipei Main Station’s M7 exit and later near the Taipei MRT’s Zhongshan
RSS