The parallel investigations by Taiwan and the Philippines into the fatal shooting of Taiwanese fisherman Hung Shih-cheng (洪石成) by Philippine Coast Guard personnel on May 9 are intended to produce results both sides can agree on, Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂) said yesterday.
If the Philippines concludes its report based on the evidence found during the course of its investigation, once Taiwan completes its investigation then Taipei and Manila will have arrived at a consensus on the circumstances leading to the shooting, Chen said at a legislative committee meeting.
“Based on the rules of evidence-gathering and analysis, there can be only one truth,” Chen said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) said that under no circumstance could Philippine judicial personal deny that Philippine Coast Guard personnel applied excessive force against the Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28 that Hung was on because Taiwanese prosecutors have found 59 bullet holes riddling the fishing boat.
The Philippines and Taiwan yesterday started what Manila has termed a “parallel investigation” into the incident, with a team from the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation arriving in Taiwan yesterday and a group of Taiwanese investigators departing for Manila.
At a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Chen said Taiwan termed the way both sides work together to discover the truth behind the shooting as a “cooperative investigation.”
Following days of negotiation, Taipei and Manila agreed that they would discuss the findings of their respective investigations before releasing the reports, Chen Ming-tang said in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁).
Taipei and Manila will release separate reports, but the results of their probes should be the same, Chen Ming-tang said.
Chen Ming-tang said that the Taiwanese investigative team, led by Lin Yen-liang (林彥良), met with National Bureau of Investigation Director Nonnatus Caesar Rojas at 11am yesterday to finalize the team’s itinerary during their stay in Manila.
Immediately after the meeting, the team initiated their investigation by conducting a ballistics test, Chen Ming-tang said.
The Taiwanese team is to inspect the Philippine vessel involved in the incident today and they are scheduled to review video footage of the shooting and interrogate witnesses and suspects tomorrow, he said.
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
‘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
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS