Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Taiwanese, Chinese expats demand social order in Belize

Taipei, April 13 (CNA) Taiwanese and Chinese communities have taken to the streets in Belize to demand for law enforcement and social order following the murder of two Chinese businesswomen in the Central American country, a Taiwan official said Wednesday.

The expat communities joined forces and staged a protest and a nationwide shutdown of all Chinese-owned and operated stores for two days after the murders, Lin Cheng-hui, deputy director-general of the Department of Central and South American Affairs under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), said in an interpellation session of the Legislative Yuan.

Lin told opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang, who had mistakenly asked whether the MOFA had learned of the murder cases of "two Taiwanese businessmen, " that the victims were Chinese.

Yan Ying Chen, a 32-year-old naturalized Belizean, and Fei Lan Wu, a 37-year-old Chinese, were shot to death inside their shops by burglars at Belize City, the country's largest city, on April 2.

Lin said a Taiwanese businessman was also killed in a similar burglary case several months ago and that widespread homicides had prompted the Belize Chinese Association and Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce to stage a protest between April 4-5 demanding that the Belizean government improve social order.

The Taiwan Embassy in Belize has also sent representatives to meet with the prime minister of Belize to express concerns on public security, Lin said. Belize is one of 23 countries with which Taiwan has official diplomatic ties.

Lin said he believes the murders were random acts of violence, rather than crimes directed intentionally at people of Chinese ethnicity.

According to Belizean media, arrests have been made in both cases. Belizean media also reported that 38 people have been murdered so far this year in Belize, eight more than in the same period last year. (By Chris Wang) enditem/ly