Nine Taiwanese have been indicted on charges related to the forced labor and abuse of migrant workers on a distant-water fishing vessel, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office said on Wednesday.
The foreign crew of the Vanuata-flagged Da Wang (大旺), owned and operated by Kaohsiung-based Yong Feng Fishery (永豐國際生物科技公司), were subject to beatings, insults, confinement, and threats to withhold or deduct wages while working in the Pacific Ocean in 2019 and 2020, prosecutors said.
The vessel’s captain surnamed Lin (林), first mate surnamed Liang (梁) and seven others were indicted for their roles in the abuse of more than 20 Indonesian and Philippine workers, prosecutors said.
Photo: CNA
In some incidents aboard the vessel, Lin and Liang threw fishers’ clothes into the ocean, despite cold temperatures, prosecutors said.
Some Muslim workers were forced to eat pork to survive, as it was often used in meals while at sea, they said.
Liang was also involved in an incident in which a migrant fisher fell to the deck after being struck on the back of the head, prosecutors said, adding that the worker was found dead days after.
An autopsy performed at the Port of Suva in Fiji determined that the fisher died of pulmonary edema, caused by excess fluids in the lungs, they said.
Although the cause of death could not be directly linked to being hit on the head, the incident prompted 19 foreign crew members to quit over physical abuse aboard the ship, prosecutors said.
Although Taiwan has one of the world’s largest distant-water fishing fleets, migrant fishers lack adequate protections, prosecutor Liao Wei-cheng (廖偉程) said.
The “lawlessness” on distant-water fishing vessels leaves migrant workers vulnerable to exploitation, Liao added.
The treatment of fishers on the Da Wang was highlighted in the 2019 Greenpeace Southeast Asia report Seabound: The Journey to Modern Slavery on the High Seas, which detailed the abuse of migrant workers on distant-water fishing vessels, including excessive overtime of more than 20 hours per day and the death of a worker.
In July 2020, the US Customs and Border Protection issued a Withhold Release Order against seafood caught with what it said was reasonable suspicion of forced labor, physical violence, debt bondage, withholding of wages and abusive living conditions on the Da Wang.
The agency in January seized the catch of the ship, and announced it had determined that the Da Wang had used forced labor after investigations found evidence aboard the vessel of all 11 indicators developed by the International Labour Organization to assess forced labor conditions.
‘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
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS