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.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS