Philippines Vs Taiwan... Troubled Waters

cn_habs said:

What a screw-up of epic proportions by the Filipinos again!

First we had witnessed their "competent" SWAT team and then the Scarborough standoff and now they couldn't even get their story right without backtracking. They can't even do PR right!

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As much as the "pay in peanuts you gets monkeys" kind of deal, they would never give a damn until Uncle Sam force them to do something to mend the situation.

Can't expect China to do any more then they already doing either, given Taiwan would forfeit its position on Diaoyu Island to Japan with that "fishing treaty", even if China tries to help it'd only stir up a mess in Taiwan.

See a TV program "海峡两岸" last night that Ma Yingjeou, Taiwan's president, has issued an 72 hours ultimatum that the Philippines must apologize. Do you think that this would ever happen? I think it's very hard, because if the Philippines do apologize means that it's admitting guilty, and the whole country would be faceless.

SteelBird said:

See a TV program "海峡两岸" last night that Ma Yingjeou, Taiwan's president, has issued an 72 hours ultimatum that the Philippines must apologize. Do you think that this would ever happen? I think it's very hard, because if the Philippines do apologize means that it's admitting guilty, and the whole country would be faceless.

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Unfortunately I think the best we can hope for is an nominal apology. The Filipinos will probably not pay reparations to the fisherman's family.

On the plus side, I read that the captain of the ship involved in the attack got sacked two days ago.

I read in the news yesterday that the Phillipines head of coastguard felt sorry for the death of the fishermen but that he will not apologize for it. What? With this kind of official, you now know why his subordinates acted the way they did.

siegecrossbow said:

Unfortunately I think the best we can hope for is an nominal apology. The Filipinos will probably not pay reparations to the fisherman's family.

On the plus side, I read that the captain of the ship involved in the attack got sacked two days ago.

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I've been reading some chinese-language sources, both from TW and Mainland. Ma already has a strike against him in the typhoon disaster a few years back. If he appears weak in this incident, he's gonna be in a *lot* of political trouble.

joshuatree said:

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Doubt we'll see MCS-3001 in those waters any time soon. About 44+ hours left and we'll see what direction this incident will take.

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No, not likely to see it (or any other Filipino vessel) in the area any time soon.

With a Kang Ding (a French Lafayette derivative) frigate and a Chi Yang Class (Knox) frigate (which the ROCN has updated significantly over the years), along with three ROC Coast Guard cutters, two of them armed, Taiwan is putting a force there more powerful than all of the Filipino Navy. And you can bet if any Filipino vessels are in the area, the Taiwan vessels will not put up with any nonsense whatsoever from them now that blood has been shed.

The interesting thing is that there has been no talk, none whatsoever, from Taiwan on the issue of sovereignty of those waters. There's plenty of comments from the PH side, to the point of outright accusing the TW fishermen to be poachers, but no such talk from TW.

The number of the Philippine ship that fired at the fishing boat has been identified. Taiwan has implied that they might seize the ship if they encounter it in the area.

no_name said:

The number of the Philippine ship that fired at the fishing boat has been identified. Taiwan has implied that they might seize the ship if they encounter it in the area.

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Well it's very unlikely that the Filipinos hasn't recalled that vessel to port but ya never know with them...

solarz said:

The interesting thing is that there has been no talk, none whatsoever, from Taiwan on the issue of sovereignty of those waters. There's plenty of comments from the PH side, to the point of outright accusing the TW fishermen to be poachers, but no such talk from TW.

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Well, in the following article in the Washington Post, it makes it clear that the Taiwan contention is that they never crossed into Filipino waters in the first place.

They also indicate they will sieze the Filipino vessel if they see it, and that the Phillippines has 72 hours to apologize and promise restitution to the family or Taiwan wil freeze ALL Filipino hiring in Taiwan...which would be a very big deal.

cn_habs said:

Well it's very unlikely that the Filipinos hasn't recalled that vessel to port but ya never know with them... .

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They have not only recalled it, they sacked the captain and temporarily relieved the entire crew until an investigation is complete. We will not see that vessel (or any other Filipino vessel) in the area while the ROCN and its Coast Guard are there in force.