President Ma Ying-jeou says Taiwan has received a response from Vietnam over the losses faced by Taiwanese businesspeople during last week’s violent protests. Ma was speaking Tuesday at a press conference marking the sixth anniversary of his inauguration.
The president said Vietnam must pledge that similar incidents will not happen again.
“From the response of Taiwanese businesspeople, a tax waiver or reduction is more practical for them. Besides an apology and compensation, perpetrators should be held accountable," said Ma. "Vietnam told us they have arrested more than 1,000 people and they are in the process of being charged. We will monitor future developments and ask Vietnam to promise and show us through concrete action that similar incidents will not happen again. We will make a firm request.”
The president said the government has done everything it could since the protests broke out in southern Vietnam on May 13th. But he said there is room for improvement and has asked Foreign Minister David Lin to review the government’s handling of the matter.
Meanwhile, the economics ministry will send a delegation to Vietnam Wednesday to assess the damage to factories owned by Taiwanese businesspeople. The delegation will help them seek compensation and rebuild their damaged factories.