GOVT POSITION TO DEPORT 14 TAIWANESE BACKED BY 2 LAWYER SENATORS
[PHOTO - Taiwan's foreign minister, Timothy Yang, announced the recall of Taipei's representative to the Philippines in response to Manila's handling of the case of 14 Taiwan nationals arrested for fraud. (File Photo/Yao Chih-ping)]
MANILA, FEBRUARY 17, 2011 (STAR) By Christina Mendez, Paolo Romero - Two legal luminaries at the Senate yesterday backed the government's decision to deport to China 14 Taiwanese suspects wanted for large-scale fraud.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said that the Philippine government has abided by the one-China policy so it cannot be blamed for its actions, although it has maintained good relations with Taiwan.
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, on the other hand, said the Philippine government did only what is proper under international law when the Bureau of Immigration (BI) deported the 14 Taiwanese to China.
The suspects – believed to be involved in large-scale fraud – were arrested in Makati last December for victimizing mostly Chinese from mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
"There is on the surface nothing irregular about the deportation. Now, Taiwan is making a complaint but we'll wait for the foreign affairs to deal with it because on the surface it was valid and legal for our government to deport these alleged criminals back to the country that made the request for deportation," Santiago said.
"We adopted a one-China policy in 1975, I think when we established our diplomatic ties with China and then the Soviet Union, from then on, we never recognized Taiwan as a political entity," Enrile said.
"Before we recognized the PROC, we had diplomatic relations with Taiwan. And we recognized Taiwan as an international person, a political entity under international law, but then when we opened our diplomatic relations with PROC, necessarily we had to recognize only one political entity representing the sovereign people of China, and that was the PROC," Enrile said, but added that it is understandable that there will be an economic backlash.
FROM ALL CHINESE TIMES NEWS
Taipei Recalls Manila Envoy Over Deportations * Jimmy Chuang * 2011-02-08 * 13:43 (GMT+8)
[PHOTO - MECO Chairman Amadeo Perez Jr (right) announced Manila's statement on the incident and forwarded it to Taiwan's representative to the Philippines, Donald Lee (left). (Photo/CNA)]
Taipei has recalled its representative to the Philippines after Manila deported 14 Taiwanese fraud suspects to China instead of sending them back to Taiwan.
The decision on Monday (Feb. 7) was made shortly after Manila issued a statement calling for "warmth and kinship" between the Philippines and Taiwan, but stopped short of offering an apology for its handling of the affair.
"We decided to recall our representative Donald Lee and enforce stricter screening of working applications from Filipino laborers to work in Taiwan from now on," said Timothy Yang, Taiwan's minister of foreign affairs.
The move added a new element to the dispute between Taiwan and the Philippines, which on Feb. 2 deported to China 14 Taiwanese and 10 Chinese suspects arrested late last year on charges of cross-border fraud against Chinese nationals. Taipei had requested the repatriation of the 14 Taiwan nationals involved.
Taiwan will also cancel visa-free privileges for Philippine passport holders who possess visas to the United States, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the Schengen Area, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said in a press release on Monday night, adding that the strict visa application measures will not prevent those who have already obtained work permits in Taiwan from returning to the Philippines for vacations or emergency visits.
A scholarship program for Filipino students to study in Taiwan will also be suspended.
The ministry, which had said Taiwan's reaction would depend on the response from Manila, recognized the "goodwill and regret" its Southeast Asian neighbor showed in the statement, but was apparently nevertheless unhappy with the outcome and said that the Philippines has harmed its relations with Taiwan with its handling of the case.
The recall of Lee was made "in order to uphold the integrity of Taiwan's sovereignty and express our discontent to the government of the Philippines," the ministry said.
The Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO), the Philippine representative office in Taiwan in the absence of official ties, issued a statement earlier in the day saying that Manila "deeply regrets" the involvement of Taiwanese nationals in the case, as well as "the reactions of the Taiwanese authorities and the public's feelings over the actions taken."
The office explained that its actions "were taken considering that all the victims are Chinese, all the accomplices are Chinese and the results can be best settled in China."
The statement did not offer the apology Taipei had been expecting.
"It should be noted that there exists an extradition treaty between the People's Republic of China and the Philippines. We also note that there is an agreement between Taiwan and mainland China on fighting crime and judicial assistance under which both sides can cooperate in this case," MECO said.
The dispute prompted strong reaction in Taiwan during the six-day Lunar New Year holiday, with lawmakers urging the government to recall Taiwan's representative to the Philippines, saying its handling of the case showed disrespect for Taiwan's sovereignty.
Taiwan's position in the case has been clear, Liu Te-hsun, vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) -- Taiwan's top China policy-making agency -- said Monday, adding that Taiwan hopes that the 14 Taiwan nationals' legal rights will be well protected and their families will be able to visit them in China as soon as possible.
China has said that legal processes including investigation and interrogation will have to be completed before the suspects can be sent back to Taiwan, Liu said.
It remained unclear whether China will repatriate the 14 suspects after completing its own legal process, Liu said, adding that the two sides are still in negotiation.
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