A crewmember of a Taiwanese fishing boat yesterday told authorities of a harrowing ordeal in which his boat was attacked in the Philippine Sea by pirates possibly disguised as military personnel, resulting in the shooting death of his brother.
The crewman, who himself was shot in the leg during the attack, said he saw people in military uniforms shooting at him before boarding the boat.
But Philippine authorities said no naval or coast guard personnel were involved, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
PHOTO: CHEN HSIEN-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
"Philippine authorities have told the ministry that no naval and coast guard vessels were in those waters when the incident occurred," ministry spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) said yesterday.
"We do not know whether these were pirates disguised as military personnel in order to commit the crime. We need more time to clear up the matter," Lu added.
The Taitung District Prosecutors' Office yesterday also launched an investigation into the incident.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
The fishing vessel Man Chun Yi was attacked in the Philippines Sea on Sunday morning.
The vessel's 68-year-old captain, Chen An-lao (陳安老), was shot dead and his 62-year-old brother, crewman Chen Ming-te (陳明德), was badly wounded.
Two Chinese nationals working on the boat were uninjured.
Chen Ming-te yesterday told police that the fishing boat was shot at by five people in military-style uniforms, but the boat they used did not look like a military vessel.
"They fired dozens of shots, and then raided the boat," he said.
The attackers fled with the boat's catch of fish.
After receiving reports from another Taiwanese fishing boat near the site of the incident, four Coast Guard Administration patrol boats and a helicopter came to assist the Man Chun Yi.
SERIOUS INJURY
The coast guard said its personnel were unable to lift Chen Ming-te to the helicopter because of the seriousness of his injury, instead moving him to a coast guard vessel and taking him to Orchid Island, situated off the nation's southeastern coast.
A helicopter waiting on the island then airlifted Chen Ming-te to a Kaohsiung hospital early yesterday morning, the coast guard said.
Doctors said Chen Ming-te's condition had stabilized.
Chen An-lao's body was taken to Taitung pending the prosecutors' probe.
The Man Chun Yi, based in Taitung County, was attacked as it traveled between the Philippines' Batan Islands and Babuyan Islands in the Bashi Channel.
Local fishermen's associations yesterday called for the government to increase protective measures for the nation's fishing boats from pirate attacks.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS