The international community continues to express support for the ROC’s position on Guang Da Xing No. 28 incident During an event held at the Twin Oaks Estate in Washington, DC on June 5 by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US in conjunction with the National Press Club—the most prominent organization for Washington, DC-based journalists—ROC Representative to the US King Pu-tsung spoke about the unfortunate Guang Da Xing No. 28 (GDX 28) incident to nearly 60 members of the Taiwan and foreign press. He gave concrete and detailed evidence to rebut the Philippine description of the Taiwan fisherman’s death as an “unintended loss of life,” clearly present the facts behind the incident, and convey the ROC’s position. On June 6, the Portuguese online media organization Inteligência Económica published an interview with Member of the Assembly of the Republic Carina Oliveira, president of the Portugal-Taiwan parliamentary friendship group, expressing her views regarding the GDX 28 fishing boat incident. She stated that responsibility for the inappropriate use of force by the Philippine government vessel, which led to the death of a Taiwan fisherman and resulted in more than 40 bullet holes in the hull of the Taiwan boat, cannot be shirked. Oliveira said she therefore supported the four demands made by the ROC government and added that the international community hopes that peace can be maintained in the waters in which the incident occurred. Inteligência Económica also published on June 6 a letter to the editor from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in Portugal, headlined “The Philippine government should apologize—a legal perspective.” The letter emphasized that the Philippine government vessel violated the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea when it used excessive and unnecessary force against the Taiwan fishing boat, and disregarded international maritime law and showed a lack of humanitarian spirit when it sailed away without offering any assistance to the Taiwan fishing boat after causing it to lose engine power. As for reports from the Philippine press, on June 6 the Business Mirror published in full a letter to the editor submitted by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines, denouncing a report in the same newspaper on June 4, which quoted the Philippine Secretary of Justice Leila de Lima as saying that the shooting of the Taiwan fishing boat happened in Philippine waters, and which implied that the information on the Taiwan boat’s Voyage Data Recorder (VDR) was incorrect. The letter pointed out that according to the data recorded by the VDR on the GDX 28, the location of the incident was at 20 degree north latitude and 123 degrees east longitude in the overlapping exclusive economic zones between Taiwan and the Philippines. Moreover, the letter added that the VDR data has been verified and authenticated by the prestigious National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, and that the location where the incident occurred is indisputable. (E) Update：2013/6/10 Source：Public Diplomacy Coordination Council, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Posted on: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:35:38 +0000
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