Taiwan on Wednesday rejected the Philippines' official apology for
the killing of the 65-year-old fisherman by the Philippine Coast Guard
last week saying it was "not enough, lack of sincerity, volatile,"
according to a Taiwan television report.
A rough translation of the report in Chinese said that Taiwan
President Ma Ying-Jeou met with his National Security Council at 7 a.m.
today to discuss the apology and decided that the Philippines’
“reckless, perfunctory authorization is not enough.”
“To express our strong dissatisfaction,” Taiwan has stopped issuing
visas to Filipino workers and recalled its de facto ambassador to the
Philippines and sent Antonio Basilio, Philippine head of the Manila
Economic Cooperation Office in Taipei, back to the home office.
Taiwan President Ma also warned that if the Philippine government
fails to meet its four requirements by 6 p.m. today, Taiwan will enforce
“eight inter-ministerial sanctions.”
Since Tuesday morning, Taiwan has stopped the issuance of visas to Filipinos seeking to work there.
Around 80,000 overseas Filipino workers live and work in Taiwan, mostly as factory workers or caregivers.