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Groups urge safety
protection in deals
UNACCEPTABLE: China can detain a suspect without
informing their families and hold them indefinitely if that person is charged
with endangering national security
By Ho Yi / Staff reporter
Activists chant slogans while
holding placards, calling for the rights of Taiwanese businessmen in China not
to be ignored, during a demonstration outside a building where Straits Exchange
Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung briefed reporters on the new round of
high-level talks with his Chinese counterpart Chen Yunlin in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Mandy CHENG, AFP
Human rights groups yesterday protested in
front of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) headquarters in Taipei, urging
officials to include personal safety on the agenda of the next round of talks
with China that begin tomorrow and calling for the immediate release of Bruce
Chung (鍾鼎邦), a Taiwanese businessman and Falun Gong practitioner who has been
detained in China for more than 50 days.
The eighth meeting between the foundation and China’s Association for Relations
Across the Taiwan Straits is to be held in Taipei from today until Friday. An
investment protection agreement and a customs cooperation agreement are expected
to be signed during the meeting.
Two days before the meeting, members of the Cross-Strait Agreement Watch
Association (CSAWA), Taiwan Association for Human Rights, the Taiwan Labor Front
(TLF) and Taiwan Democracy Watch (TWDEM) delivered a checklist to the foundation
of human rights issues concerning cross-strait relations that they say are key
for the protection of personal freedom and safety. It was the second such list
the organizations have submitted to the SEF since last year.
The advocates said that if most of the human rights requirements are not met
during the meeting, the SEF should not sign the agreements, but continue
negotiations until an acceptable result is achieved.
One of the requirements is to include personal security in cross-strait
negotiations on the investment protection agreement, TWDEM director Hsu Wei-chun
(徐偉群) said.
“Personal safety and freedom should not be limited to Taiwanese businesspeople,
but all citizens traveling across the Strait,” Hsu said. “Failing to incorporate
human right issues into the negotiations shows the government has little concern
for its citizens.”
“The upcoming negotiations are once again a test of the Taiwanese government’s
commitment to human rights protection,” Hsu said.
Meanwhile, TLF secretary--general Son Yu-lian (孫友聯) said that Taiwan’s
investment protection agreement with China should follow the rules set in a
similar agreement with Japan, which prohibits lowering environmental and labor
standards to attract investors.
CSAWA convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said prisoners’ rights should also be
included in the cross-strait talks, which should include a stipulation that
alerts Taipei within 24 hours of a Taiwanese being arrested or detained and
secures visiting rights for family members, government officials and attorneys.
In addition, detainees should have attorneys present during trials to protect
them from torture or being coerced into pleading guilty.
“Under China’s criminal law, if detainees are accused of s-abotaging national
and public security, the government is not obligated to inform family members,”
Lai said. “To us, this is unacceptable.”
Lai also said that in China, police and customs officers can detain suspects for
up to 37 days without trial.
“It’s a serious violation of human rights,” he said. “Our officials should
demand such practices be abolished in the agreement.”
The recent arrest of Chung by the Chinese government without explanation is a
deafening warning on how Beijing would protect Taiwanese in China, the advocates
said.
After a trip to his father’s hometown in Yongkang City, Jiangxi Province, Chung
was arrested on June 18 “for hijacking the signal of a Chinese TV station in
2003 from Taiwan with the help of Chinese nationals,” according to Xinhua news
agency.
“Chung’s family have repeatedly pleaded with the government, but [President] Ma
Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has been very slow to act,” said Shih Yi-hsiang
(施逸翔), an activist from the Chung Ting-pang Rescue Operation. “The cross-strait
negotiations should not take place until Chung is released.”
“The idea is simple. We cannot lower our human rights, labor and environmental
standards to promote investment and trade across the Taiwan Strait,” Lai said.
The alliance is scheduled to organize a protest on Ketagalan Boulevard today to
demand Chung’s release.
While the protest was being held outside, SEF Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤)
told a press conference that the biggest benefit of the investment protection
pact was that it would establish an institutionalized and multi-layered
mechanism to resolve investment disputes.
The pact will go beyond current regulations in China and allow arbitration
institutes from the two sides to be involved in resolving investment disputes,
Chiang said.
“The signing of the investment protection pact will help to increase mutual
investment and industrial cooperation between the two sides,” Chiang said ahead
of the one-day meeting.
However, he said the pact is not a “panacea to solve all commercial disputes,”
and called on Taiwanese companies to familiarize themselves with the law and
investment environment in China and choose business partners carefully before
investing.
Meanwhile, the customs cooperation agreement will help expedite customs
clearance, clamp down on smuggling and lower operational costs for exporters,
Chiang said.
Taiwan’s exports to China reached US$124 billion last year and its imports from
China surpassed US$45 billion, he said, adding that speedier customs clearance
has become one of the top concerns for Taiwanese companies exporting products to
China.
In addition to signing the two agreements, Chiang said representatives from the
two sides will review the execution of past agreements and decide on issues to
be negotiated in the next SEF-ARATS meeting.
ARATS Vice Chairman Zheng Lizhong (鄭立中) will lead a delegation to Taiwan today
for pre-meeting talks and preparatory work, Chiang said.
ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) will arrive tomorrow and the Chinese delegation
is expected to leave Taiwan the following day.
The eighth round of Chiang-Chen talks will take place at the Grand Hotel. More
than 100 domestic and foreign media are expected to cover the event.
Additional reporting by Chris Wang and CNA
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