Taiwan is looking to cooperate with other countries affected by the recent anti-China protests in Vietnam to solicit compensation for the damage caused to foreign factories during the unrest sparked by Hanoi’s territorial disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) said yesterday.
Lin told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee that the ministry is studying two agreements signed between Taiwan and Vietnam on judicial assistance and investment protection to find a legal basis for compensation claims.
Beijing’s installation of an oil rig close to the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) in the South China Sea catalyzed longstanding anti-China sentiment into violent protests in Vietnam’s southeastern provinces of Binh Duong and Dong Nai. The Paracels are claimed by Taiwan, China and Vietnam.
Photo: Reuters
The protest began peacefully at the weekend, but on Tuesday devolved into a rampage against foreign businesses, with Taiwanese factories and offices among the hardest hit, presumably because they bore Chinese-language signs and were mistaken as being China-owned.
Some factories in Vietnam owned by Singaporean, South Korean and Japanese firms were also damaged by protesters, Lin said, adding that the ministry has spoken with the governments of the three countries to inquire about their willingness to file a united claim seeking compensation for the damage.
Lin said he has made it clear to Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei Director Bui Trong Van in recent talks that Taiwan will lodge a compensation claim with the Vietnamese government.
Separately yesterday, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Cho Shih-chao (卓士昭) said that the Ministry of Economic Affairs will help Taiwanese businesses hurt by the riots to seek compensation.
A 1993 bilateral protection agreement stipulates that Hanoi must compensate Taiwanese firms in Vietnam if they incur losses due to war, armed conflicts, national states of emergency, riots, rebellion or disturbances in the country, Cho said.
He said that the countries enjoy strong economic ties, with Vietnam being the top single target in Southeast Asia for Taiwanese investors, who have poured US$27.3 billion into the country over the years, while bilateral trade has increased to US$11.5 billion per year.
However, due to the riots, the Ministry of Economic Affairs will advise companies seeking to set up operations in Vietnam to assess the risks first, he said.
Also yesterday, the Executive Yuan announced that Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) has set up a task force led by Vice Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) that is to draw up a government strategy to ensure the safety of Taiwanese businesspeople in Vietnam and guarantee that their right to be compensated for losses incurred there is protected.
The announcement followed a call issued by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) demanding that the government immediately take all measures necessary to protect the interests of Taiwanese businesses affected by the rioting, including seeking indemnities and providing interest-free loans.
Voicing concerns about the safety of Taiwanese and their property in Vietnam amid the anti-China sentiment, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) and DPP Policy Research Committee executive director Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) in a four-point statement demanded that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration take immediate action.
“Taiwanese businesses have unfortunately suffered more losses than their Chinese counterparts, despite the protests targeting China-owned businesses. We have received a lot of requests from Taiwanese businesspeople in the region demanding a strong response from the government,” Su said.
On citizens’ personal safety, the party demanded that the government dispatch charter flights to bring home businesspeople who want to leave Vietnam.
The government should also engage in negotiations with Hanoi about indemnifying Taiwanese companies over property losses, Su said, adding that the compensation effort should be managed separately from any such claim made by Beijing.
The party advised the government to urge local banks against tightening their mortgage rules and to provide riot-affected businesses with interest-free loans through the Overseas Credit Guarantee Fund (海外信用保證基金) to help them bear the financial costs of the protests.
The budget for these measures could be allocated under the Executive Yuan’s National Development Fund, the party said, adding that such action was necessary because many members of the Taiwanese business association in Binh Duong — who were among the earliest investors in the country — had seen their investment “evaporate overnight” after the violent rampage.
Later yesterday, the Vietnamese government vowed to protect Taiwanese and their assets in the country.
Hanoi will do its utmost to ensure the safety of Taiwanese and other foreign businesspeople in Binh Duong and protect their assets and rights, Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Le Hai Binh said at a regular briefing.
Le said that the authorities had moved swiftly to crack down on the protests and are determined to take action against the rioters.
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
RSS