The Executive Yuan yesterday said China would take part in the investigation of the crash of TransAsia Airways (復興航空) Flight GE235, adding that the move is “in accordance with international conventions.”
Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) confirmed that China is to participate in the investigation and the government would ask the Mainland Affairs Council to pay extra attention to the issue of jurisdiction to prevent it being overstepped.
A Cabinet official said that according to the Convention on International Civil Aviation’s Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation standards, the nation in which the aircraft is registered, the nations where its passengers were from and the nation that built or manufactured the aircraft are all entitled to take part in an investigation.
Photo: CNA
The official added that a “cross-strait cooperation agreement on flight safety and airworthiness directive” is under negotiation, although not yet signed, and the basic framework of the agreement would be used for the two nations to work on the investigation.
As Flight GE235 was carrying 31 Chinese passengers, Aviation Safety Council Executive Director Thomas Wang (王興中) said that China said it wanted to participate in the investigation.
“We have contacted Chinese government officials and informed them that the council can help them secure documents to enter the nation. However, Beijing has yet to indicate who and how many officials would come,” he said, adding that this would be the first time Chinese officials would join the council in an aircraft accident investigation.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) said in Beijing that there exists a communication mechanism between the two nations for inviting participation in investigations should major aircraft accidents occur.
Ma said that Taiwan has issued an invitation and confirmed that China’s civil aviation department would send personnel to assist in the investigation, adding that the group would be coming to Taiwan for a civil aviation “mini cross-strait meeting” — a term that puts emphasis on its non-governmental nature.
Some netizens cast doubt on the government’s consent to Chinese participation. A netizen with the username “Karsho” said on the Professional Technology Temple (PTT) Web site — the nation’s largest online bulletin board — that according to Article 26 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation: “In the event of an accident to an aircraft of a contracting state occurring in the territory of another contracting state ... the state in which the accident occurs will institute an inquiry into the circumstances of the accident, in accordance, so far as its laws permit, with the procedure which may be recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization.”
Insofar as Taiwan is both the nation where the accident occurred and the nation in which the aircraft was registered, “Taiwan should have exclusive jurisdiction over the investigation ‘according to the regulations’ and should not have China overstep like this,” Karsho said.
“We sent our people to Japan, with the consent of the Japanese government for the China Airlines (中華航空) crash in Nagoya in 1994 to gain knowledge of the events,” Karsho said. “As investigation is part of the authority of the nation where the accident occurred, Taiwan at the time could only wait for Japan’s official investigation report.”
Other netizens questioned whether Taiwan had been allowed to participate in the investigation of the Qiandao Lake (千島湖) incident in China’s Zhejiang Province in 1994, and said that China might take this as an opportunity to act as if it was sovereign over Taiwan.
“Why do we want a nation that follows the rule of one man to participate in the investigation of a nation abiding by the rule of law?” a netizen asked.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said that according to the international convention and cross-strait agreements, China could send a specialist to Taiwan to obtain information about what happened, to undertake the task of identifying the people killed and gain access to the investigation report, but it has no right to participate in the judicial investigation.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) asked the public not to “politicize everything” and said it is understandable that China wants to know more as the accident involves its citizens.
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan
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
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts