Bias

I am writing in response to your August 16 article, entitled “Bottom line: Will additional US presence deter bully-China?” written by Mr. Jarius Bondoc.

When the ROC (Taiwan) and the Philippines are now working closely together for the restoration of once frayed relations, Mr. Bondoc has vehemently denied that the justice should be served for May 9 killing act committed by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and argued that the shooting incident took place in “the Philippine waters” and that the crew members of Guang Da Xing no.28 (GDX28) were “intruders” and “poachers.”

Judging by the Mr. Bondoc’s name-calling of my office as “the US protectorate” in his writing, it is not surprising to see that he has resorted to stereotyping GDX28 fishermen and stigmatizing them by labeling them as “intruders” and “poachers.”

His intentional disregard for facts that do not affirm his stance is apparent in his continuous erroneous assertion that the shooting incident happened “within the internal Philippine waters” despite the fact that the GDX28 Vessel Data Recorder (VDR) shows that the shooting happened in the overlapping Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of the ROC (Taiwan) and the Philippines. The shooting incident that resulted in the death of Mr. Hung Shi-chen DID NOT happen in the Philippine territorial waters. Rather, it happened at N 20º, E 123º, 164 nautical miles away from Taiwan, and 39 nautical miles away from Batanes island. The VDR is the factual evidence that reveals actual positioning data, and thus could not be disputed. 

Mr. Bondoc displays his bias in his writing that the PCG was not at fault for the killing as the GDX28 should not “evade routine approach of a marked fisheries patrol boat.”

We would ask Mr. Bondoc to examine the facts that the shooting action taken by the PCG has been a violation of the UNCLOS. Paragraph 1 of Article 73 of the aforementioned Convention states that actions that may be taken by a state while enforcing the law in its EEZ are limited to boarding, inspection, arrest, and judicial proceedings. Shooting and killing are not allowed under any circumstances.

Had the PCG followed the stipulations of the UNCLOS, the unfortunate incident would not have happened at all.

In addition, Mr. Bondoc turns a blind eye to the fact that, when the PCG deals with a “suspicious-looking boat” which has run away, it does not give them any legal rights to shoot at any innocent person whom they have merely suspected. If that’s the case, what then separates us from savages?

As Mr. Bondoc realizes that “the Philippine EEZ overlaps well beyond central Taiwan,” he should stop refusing to recognize the impeding overlapping EEZs issue.

We call on Mr. Bondoc to abandon his prejudice and discrimination against the GDX28 fishermen in his writing, as it does not benefit the two countries that have just started mending relations.  — CHANG PONG, Press Director, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines