Family members of the Taiwanese fisherman who was shot dead during an incident involving a Philippine government vessel last week demanded that Manila provide evidence of its claim that the Taiwanese ship was at fault and had provoked the incident.
On May 9, the Taiwanese boat, Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28, was strafed by a joint patrol of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. The 65-year-old Hung Shih-cheng (洪石成) was shot dead in the incident.
The shooting took place 164 nautical miles (304km) southeast of Taiwan’s southernmost tip in waters in the overlapping exclusive economic zones of Taiwan and the Philippines.
The PCG’s incident report claimed the Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28 attempted to ram the coast guard ship and escape, forcing it to open fire and give chase.
Hung Shih-cheng’s son, Hung Yu-chih (洪育智), the captain of the Taiwanese vessel, on Friday rebutted the claim, saying that as his ship was small and made of fiberglass, it would have been ridiculous for it to attempt to ram the Philippine government boat.
“No definitive statements have been made by Manila, who initially said that we rammed their coast guard ship and then claimed we hit a buoy,” Hung Yu-chih said.
He added that according to Taiwanese prosecutors, “we were not in Philippine territorial waters. Manila should provide evidence if it disagrees with Taiwan’s findings.”
According to the Pingtung County Prosecutor’s Office, the Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28’s voyage data recorder (VDR) recorded the ship’s location, course and speed on May 9, adding that the location of the Philippine Coast Guard’s ship was not available.
There were no signs of damage on the fishing ship’s hull to back up Manila’s claims, the prosecutor said, calling for Manila to make public footage recorded when it conducted an investigation of the coast guard ship to shed light on the matter.
Commenting on Philippine media reports on Friday which described the PCG’s report of the May 9 shooting as “like a scene out of an action movie” in which the Philippine vessel was “dodging two fishing boats that tried to sink the law enforcer’s ship as they engaged the ‘bad guys’ in a high seas chase,” Hung Shih-cheng’s daughter Hung Tzu-chien (洪慈綪) asked: “How are the Philippine coast guards’ actions different from Somalian pirates? Can we not call them pirates for killing people on the sea? Firing 57 shots is called ‘unintended?’”
Pingtung County Councilor Lu Tung-hsieh (盧同協) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), meanwhile, criticized the Philippine government and said Manila would not let any video that would embarrass Taiwanese authorities remain under wraps if it had such footage.
“The video would have been released if the Taiwanese vessel had instigated the incident,” Lu said.
“Manila is attempting to sway international opinion in its favor by shifting the blame onto our shoulders,” Lu said.
Lu added that the Taiwanese government, backed by the full support of the people, should demand and receive a satisfactory response from the Philippine government or else President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration would be regarded as weak on the international stage.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS