Source: ANN
Taiwan-Philippine relations remain "friendly" but there is a "crease" in diplomatic ties that needs ironing out, said former senator Manuel Roxas II on his arrival Tuesday from Taipei where he went on an unofficial mission for Philippine President Benigno Aquino III.
Roxas said he had not apologized but had asked for understanding in a very "convoluted" negotiation process that took 11 hours.
Roxas was sent to repair relations with the self-governing island following a diplomatic row over the deportation by the Philippines of 14 alleged Taiwanese criminals to China on Feb. 2 against Taipei's wishes.
"No apology was given, but we asked for understanding. Giving an apology is different from asking for understanding," Roxas told airport reporters.
"We gave the Taiwan side the view of our government, and they accepted it well. They also firmly told us their grievances and the measures they were seeking to solve this problem," he said.
He declined to give specifics of the talks, saying he had to report to the President first.
However, wire reports from Taipei said that Roxas' mission had been complicated by fresh comments made in Manila by presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda who insisted that the Philippines would not apologize. This reportedly angered the Taiwanese president.
"The position of the government is that we have done everything legally and properly," Lacierda told a press briefing.
The incident was now the subject of a court case, and the government would have to wait for the outcome first, "so to apologize right now would be implying that we have already committed a mistake", he said.
President Ma Ying-jeou, speaking through an interpreter during the meeting with Roxas, reiterated Taiwan's demand that the Philippines "take responsibility for its mistakes" and apologize.
The government-run Central News Agency (CNA) quoted Premier Wu Den-yih as saying that Taiwan would insist that the Philippines apologize.
The Council of Labor Affairs, through its chair Wang Ju-shuan, also said that his agency would take "more severe measures" against Filipino workers, such as a hiring freeze if negotiations over the deportation row do not prosper.
Taipei is "very likely" to impose the freeze after President Ma expressed fury over the deportations, a Taiwanese labor official said.
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Timothy C.T. Yang, according to the CNA, confirmed that President Ma had met with Roxas as "a diplomatic courtesy".
A lawmaker from the ruling Koumintang, however, said the Philippines' sending a special emissary should be interpreted as a form of apology.
"The fact that the Philippines sent an emissary to Taiwan is already a gesture of an apology. Flexibility is a must in all diplomatic negotiations," CNA quoted lawmaker Lin Yu-fang, as saying.
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Taiwan-Philippine relations remain "friendly" but there is a "crease" in diplomatic ties that needs ironing out, said former senator Manuel Roxas II on his arrival Tuesday from Taipei where he went on an unofficial mission for Philippine President Benigno Aquino III.
Roxas said he had not apologized but had asked for understanding in a very "convoluted" negotiation process that took 11 hours.
Roxas was sent to repair relations with the self-governing island following a diplomatic row over the deportation by the Philippines of 14 alleged Taiwanese criminals to China on Feb. 2 against Taipei's wishes.
"No apology was given, but we asked for understanding. Giving an apology is different from asking for understanding," Roxas told airport reporters.
"We gave the Taiwan side the view of our government, and they accepted it well. They also firmly told us their grievances and the measures they were seeking to solve this problem," he said.
He declined to give specifics of the talks, saying he had to report to the President first.
However, wire reports from Taipei said that Roxas' mission had been complicated by fresh comments made in Manila by presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda who insisted that the Philippines would not apologize. This reportedly angered the Taiwanese president.
"The position of the government is that we have done everything legally and properly," Lacierda told a press briefing.
The incident was now the subject of a court case, and the government would have to wait for the outcome first, "so to apologize right now would be implying that we have already committed a mistake", he said.
President Ma Ying-jeou, speaking through an interpreter during the meeting with Roxas, reiterated Taiwan's demand that the Philippines "take responsibility for its mistakes" and apologize.
The government-run Central News Agency (CNA) quoted Premier Wu Den-yih as saying that Taiwan would insist that the Philippines apologize.
The Council of Labor Affairs, through its chair Wang Ju-shuan, also said that his agency would take "more severe measures" against Filipino workers, such as a hiring freeze if negotiations over the deportation row do not prosper.
Taipei is "very likely" to impose the freeze after President Ma expressed fury over the deportations, a Taiwanese labor official said.
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Timothy C.T. Yang, according to the CNA, confirmed that President Ma had met with Roxas as "a diplomatic courtesy".
A lawmaker from the ruling Koumintang, however, said the Philippines' sending a special emissary should be interpreted as a form of apology.
"The fact that the Philippines sent an emissary to Taiwan is already a gesture of an apology. Flexibility is a must in all diplomatic negotiations," CNA quoted lawmaker Lin Yu-fang, as saying.
