Academics yesterday highlighted the importance of visitation rights for proposed Taiwanese and Chinese representative offices in each other’s countries, so that detainees on either side are not left without assistance.
The offices should be endowed with the rights to deal with legal matters, visit those who have been arrested or detained on either side of the Taiwan Strait and provide emergency assistance, Chen Te-sheng (陳德昇), a research fellow at the Institute of International Relations of National Chengchi University, said at a public hearing at the Legislative Yuan.
Because Taiwan’s political system and social environment is very different from China’s, many Taiwanese are likely to be dissatisfied if the Straits Exchange Foundation’s (SEF) representative offices do not have such functions, Chen said.
Chiu Tai-san (邱太三), head of the financial and economic law department at Asia University, said that without visitation rights, the planned offices would have no more authority than the more than 100 associations of Taiwanese businesspeople operating in China.
Visitation rights are one of several thorny issues facing the two nations as they discuss the possibility of setting up representative offices.
Former foundation secretary-general Chen Rong-jye (陳榮傑) has previously said that the office staff must be able to protect their fellow citizens overseas. If someone is arrested or detained while abroad, informing the government of the situation is a basic service performed by a consulate, along with visiting the detainees and helping them to secure legal representation, he said.
“It’s a basic aspect of human rights protection,” Chen was quoted by local media as saying.
Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said he was aware of the importance of visitation rights and would do his best to secure them.
He added that the proposal to allow the planned offices to process travel documents is moving in a positive direction.
“Mainland Chinese authorities have responded favorably to the proposal,” Wang said on the sidelines of the hearing.
The Democratic Progressive Party has criticized the government’s inability to secure the proposed offices’ rights to issue travel documents, saying that without such a function, there would be no point in setting up the offices.
Wang said the offices main functions would be to promote trade, economic, cultural and educational ties and provide emergency assistance, but added that talks on having the offices also process travel documents are moving in a positive direction.
On a proposal that staff at the foundation’s Beijing office be allowed to visit Taiwanese detained in China, Wang said China has agreed to inform the foundation’s office whenever a Taiwanese is being held.
“We will continue negotiating with Beijing to permit Straits Exchange Foundation staff posted in mainland China to visit detained Taiwanese,” Wang said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
RSS