The owner of Taiwanese distant-water fishing vessel You Fu on Friday denied she had deliberately delayed payments to crew members for 15 months and responded to some of the allegations made by Indonesian fishers working on the ship.
Some allegations by the Indonesians made on Wednesday were “false” and hurt the image of Taiwan’s distant-water fishing industry, Kung Kun-tung (孔坤桐), a director at Taiwan Tuna Longline Association, of which Pingtung-based You Fu is a member, told a news conference, speaking on behalf of the vessel’s owner.
RESPONSE
One crew member had said that his wife had a miscarriage and urgently needed the You Fu’s labor broker to transfer the wages he was owed, but his request was denied.
Presenting a transfer slip, Kung said a cash transfer was made to a designated account.
The crew members said that they often ran out of food and had to eat fish bait and instant noodles, but this was false, Kung said, presenting receipts for NT$1.6 million (US$49,322) worth of food, adding that it showed crew members ate normally.
Kung also denied that the skipper had “seized” their passports, but said they were held for safekeeping.
Due to falling fish prices amid high inflation and soaring fuel prices, the shipowner encountered cash flow problems and had to source funds to pay the migrant fishers, who declined to be paid in installments, Kung said.
When they finally had the money on Tuesday and were ready to pay the crew members the next morning, the interpreter could not locate them because they had gone with non-governmental organizations (NGO) to Taipei for a news conference on Wednesday, Kung said.
Kung said it is not clear why the NGOs took the crew members to Taipei right before the shipowner was about to pay them.
All fishers who were owed wages were paid in full on Thursday under the supervision of the Fisheries Agency, Kung added.
FORCED LABOR?
Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔), a senior researcher at the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, which co-organized Wednesday’s news conference, denied they had tried to show the nation’s distant-waters fishing industry in a negative light by highlighting an isolated case.
Withholding salary payments to crew members blamed on cash flow issues is against the Action Plan for Fisheries and Human Rights promulgated by the agency, he said.
The shipowner claimed they held the crew members’ identification documents for safekeeping, but such behavior is flagged by the International Labour Organization as an indicator of forced labor, he added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by