Taipei, Dec. 2 (CNA) The safety of Taiwanese businessmen in China should be ensured and protected in the proposed agreements that are scheduled to be signed in upcoming cross-Taiwan Strait talks later this month, lawmakers said Thursday.
Text should be included in a proposed investment protection agreement Taiwan hopes to sign with China later this month, along with a medical cooperation agreement, to ensure China upholds two international human rights covenants it has signed, lawmakers on the Economics Committee proposed in a draft resolution.
"The safety of Taiwanese businessmen in China can be guaranteed only if Chinese law enforcement is in line with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights it has signed, " said Pan Meng-an, a legislator of the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) during an interpellation session.
Statistics of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) , which is charged with dealing with matters concerning Taiwan's exchanges with China, show that 2,250 of 3,969 complaints filed by China-based Taiwanese businessmen from 1991 to October 2010 were related to personal safety. The number was more than the 1,719 complaints filed in connection with trade disputes.
Among the 2,250 safety-related cases, 649 Taiwanese nationals were detained, 396 were reported missing and 103 were killed.
Legislators expressed concern ahead of the sixth round of cross-strait talks, which reportedly will be held Dec. 16-17 in Taipei. Despite the assurances of government officials present at the interpellation session, including Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-hsiang and Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Chairman Kao Charng, that the protection of Taiwanese nationals is the government's priority, they said that it will be difficult to include this demand in the agreement.
"Taiwan wants the Chinese authorities to handle trade disputes in the spirit of the two international covenants, but investment protection agreements usually do not cover this field, " Shih said.
Compared with investment protection, safety protection is even more urgent for the bilateral negotiation agenda because Taiwanese businessmen have been complaining about the issue for years, ruling Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Wu Ching-chih said, adding that some businessmen have had to flee China in the dead of night to avoid being illegally detained by Chinese law enforcement authorities.
However, Ting Shou-chung, also a KMT legislator, warned that if Taiwan insists on including the safety aspect in the text of the agreement, the negotiations could collapse.
"In any case, China does not abide by international covenants, " he said. (By Chris Wang) ENDITEM/J