Taiwan’s representative to Vietnam, Huang Chi-peng, says Vietnam’s government has failed to adequately compensate Taiwanese businesses for damage incurred during a wave of anti-Chinese violence last year.
Vietnamese demonstrations against a Chinese oil platform that entered waters off the disputed Paracel Islands turned violent on May 13 last year. A large number of Taiwanese-owned factories mistakenly believed to be Chinese were destroyed or damaged in three Vietnamese provinces. A total of 407 Taiwanese companies were affected.
Speaking on Wednesday, Huang said that despite three high level meetings between authorities from Taiwan and Vietnam, the Vietnamese side has yet to make good on promises of compensation.
Huang said that Vietnamese assurances that compensation would come in cash and cover 100% of damages were later downgraded to promises of reduced taxes. Huang also said that now, Vietnamese authorities only plan to pay compensation to heavily damaged factories that have not yet reopened.
Huang said that despite the fact that reparations have been slow to materialize, the representative office in Hanoi plans to gradually stop discouraging Taiwanese businesses from investing in Vietnam.