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Define the following:
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Mediation
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Memorandum of Understanding
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Military Observer Group
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Minder
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Multi-track Diplomacy
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Munich Agreement
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Mediation: The active search for a negotiated settlement to an international or intrastate conflict by an impartial third party
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Memorandum of Understanding: An international instrument to which resort is had where a written agreement is needed but where it is more convenient to avoid the formalities of a treaty and where the establishment of legally binding obligations are deemed unnecessary.
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Military Observer Group: A group of military officers charged with monitoring a ceasefire or an armistice.
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Minder: colloquial expression for a person employed in certain countries to subject the movements of diplomatic and consular agents or the members of visiting foreign delegations to ‘visual surveillance’
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Multi-track Diplomacy: One negotiation pursued along several different tracks.
New Vocabulary:
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Nansen passport
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national interest
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necessity
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neutrality
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news management
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non-alignment
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non-diplomatic agent
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non-diplomatic relations
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non-governmental organization
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non-intervention
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non-paper
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normalization.
As you may notice, the Republic of China (Taiwan) government announced May 15 two sets of sanctions against the Philippines at 12:00 PM and 6:00 PM respectively after Manila’s insincerity, flip-flops, fact-skewing and intentional delay of responding to Taipei’s earlier demand of actions addressing the Philippine government vessel’s brutal attack and killing of a Taiwan fisherman on May 9.
Manila’s description of the killing as an “unfortunate and unintended loss of life” is further deceit meant only to downplay this egregious violation of the UN Convention on the Laws of the Sea, which forbids the use of force against an unarmed vessel.
Some media outlets, however, might be misled by Manila’s insincere “apology” and “donation” to the fisherman’s family after its government vessel violated international law and committed such a brutal crime. Manila’s attitude has increasingly aroused public fury in Taiwan. ROC Premier Jiang Yi-huah made a thorough explanations at three press conferences on May 15 and 16 concerning Taipei’s above-mentioned sanctions.
Dear XXX:
Further to my email of May 16, I would like to bring to your attention some key points that are contrary to what the Philippine government claims to have occurred on May 9.
After the Philippine vessel’s violent action against the unarmed Taiwan fishing boat, the Philippine authorities continued to make excuses before claiming that the fishing boat attempted to ram the government vessel, prompting the Philippine vessel to open fire on the fishing boat in “self-defense.”
However, the Philippine law-enforcement vessel weighs a total of 115.45 tons, while the Republic of China (Taiwan) fishing boat, which measures 14.7 meters by 3.68 meters, merely weighs 15.15 tons. It is a small, unarmed fishing boat, which undermines the Philippines’ claim of “self-defense.” The evidence collected by ROC prosecutors shows that the fishing boat had been riddled with more than 50 bullet holes. The Philippine government vessel’s adoption of military force, a clear infraction of international law, was a cruel and violent action that resulted in the fatal shooting of an ROC fisherman. The Philippines’ claim that the death was “unintended” ignores the facts, which the ROC finds absolutely unacceptable.
I’m attaching a May 17 press release from the ROC Ministry of Foreign Affairs for your possible reference. Again, please do not hesitate to contact me for more information or if you have any further questions.
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/05/16/why_are_so_many_diplomatic_crises_sparked_by_fishermen Why are so many diplomatic crises sparked by fishermen? Posted By Alicia P.Q. Wittmeyer  Thursday, May 16, 2013 - 7:00 PM  Share
In the latest development in the showdown between Taiwan and the Philippines over the death of a Taiwanese fisherman at the hands of the Philippine coast guard, Taiwan is holding military drills near Philippine waters. The Philippines -- its apology having been rejected by Taiwan -- is also standing firm, saying it won't "appease" the Taiwanese, while the United States is urging cooler heads to prevail. The standoff is just the latest in a string of geopolitical showdowns in which fishermen have served -- sometimes unwittingly and sometimes wittingly -- as lightning rods in East and Southeast Asian maritime territorial disputes.
The humble fishing boat, in fact, has been at the center of incidents between China and Russia; between China and Vietnam; between Japan and Taiwan; between China and South Korea; between North Korea and South Korea; between North Korea and China; between China and the Philippines; and between South Korea and Japan. And then, of course, there was the 2010 collision between a Chinese fishing boat and Japanese coast guard patrol boats in disputed waters near the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, which set relations between the two Asian superpowers on edge for months.
How has the fisherman -- a seemingly unassuming practitioner of his ancient craft -- come to play this vital role on the international stage? There are a number of factors at play. For starters, Asian waters are running out of fish -- which means more fishing boats are straying into foreign waters in search of good hauls. Then there's the growing nationalism in many of these countries, which raises the stakes in these disputes and allows one arrested fisherman to take on national significance.
In addition, there's the suspicion that some countries -- notably China -- really do use fishermen as proxies in their ongoing disputes with other countries -- that these fishing boats are not the innocent bystanders caught up in forces greater than themselves that they seem. At the height of last year's tensions with Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, it was reported that China was sending an "armada" of 1,000 fishing boats to the islands with the goal of overwhelming the Japanese coast guard -- though the reports later proved false.
Hung Shih-cheng, the 65-year-old Taiwanese fisherman at the center of the current row between Taiwan and the Philippines, appears to have ventured into disputed territory with the simple aim of fishing; the Philippine coast guard has said the crew believed he was trying to ram one of their ships and opened fire.
Venture astray, and face the chance of catching fire from a military vessel as a result of international border disputes? That's quite an occupational hazard.
As the writer of this story notes:
“Hung Shih-cheng, the 65-year-old Taiwanese fisherman at the center of the current row between Taiwan and the Philippines, appears to have ventured into disputed territory with the simple aim of fishing”.
One only need read this sentence to grasp the source of the outrage on Taiwan regarding this incident. Whatever the status of the disagreement between Taiwan and the Philippines regarding territorial claims and fishing rights, it is clear that forces under the control of the Government of the Philippines failed in their duties to act as the representatives of a responsible member of the world community. In particular, their violent actions violate the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas, which forbids the arbitrary use of force against an unarmed vessel.
The action of the Philippine coast guard vessel in attacking Mr. Hung’s boat was by any measure clearly disproportionate and shocking to the conscience. The later, post hoc attempt by the Philippine government to justify the resort to force by claiming self-defense ignores those moral and legal standards and strains credibility. The fishing boat was a fraction of the size of the coast guard vessel (15.15 tons compared to115.45 tons) and was unarmed. The fact that a subsequent investigation by ROC authorities revealed the presence of more than 50 bullet holes in the fishing vessel also renders moot the Philippine government’s attempt to label Mr. Hung’s death an “unfortunate and unintended loss of life”. Deadly force aimed at a person is just that—force that is intended to kill the one who is attacked.
It is because of these facts and the failure of the Government of the Philippines to take full and clear responsibility for the actions of its armed forces that the ROC government has rejected the Philippines’ apology as insincere and announced the levying of sanctions against that country.
Taiwan-Philippines dispute erupts after fisherman’s killing
By Ashish Kumar Sen and Ashish Kumar Sen THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Washington Times
Monday, May 20, 2013
Bottom of Form
Taiwan and the Philippines are embroiled in a major diplomatic dispute after the Philippines coast guard fatally shot a Taiwanese fisherman in disputed waters earlier this month.
Taiwan has imposed sanctions on the Philippines, withdrawn its representative from Manila and frozen visas for Filipino workers. It also has conducted naval drills in response to the May 9 incident that killed 65-year-old Hong Shi-cheng.
The attack has created a diplomatic headache for the United States, which has mutual defense treaties with Taiwan and the Philippines. The State Department has urged both sides to settle the conflict peaceably.
Details of the fisherman’s killing are still in question.
The Philippines coast guard says its crew acted in self-defense, believing the Taiwanese fishing boat was trying to ram its vessel. A Taiwanese investigation found 59 bullet holes in the fishing boat.
Philippine President Benigno Aquino last week sent an envoy to Taiwan to “convey his and the Filipino people’s deep regret and apology” to Hong’s family.
Taiwan rejected an apology as insincere because it characterized Hong’s death as an “unfortunate and unintended loss of life.”
Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou described the killing as “cold-blooded murder.”
“At this moment, our focus is not on an apology,” said Frank Yee Wang, a spokesman for the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington. “We hope that the Filipino side can agree to a transparent investigation.”
Mr. Wang said Taiwan would welcome a joint investigation.
Philippines Justice Secretary Leila de Lima told reporters in Manila on Monday that her government cannot conduct an official joint investigation because the Philippines has diplomatic relations with mainland China, not Taiwan. She offered to “cooperate” with Taiwanese investigators.
Taiwan also wants the Philippines to offer a formal apology, provide compensation and negotiate a new fishery agreement.
Mr. Wang said the Taiwanese military drills in the Bashi Channel that separates Taiwan from the Philippines were not intended as a provocation. He called it a response to the public furor in Taiwan over Hong’s death.
“It was just to show to our people that our government will protect their rights in our waters,” he said.
To the editor:
With regard to your story of May 20 (Taiwan-Philippines dispute erupts after fisherman’s killing”): The Philippines should approach this issue in the spirit of the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas, to which it is a signatory. Section 73 of that Convention sets out the responsibilities of a state in policing its exclusive economic zone, none of which includes the use of deadly force in circumstances involving an unarmed fishing boat. Thus even if it were the case that the fishing boat was unambiguously in the Philippines exclusive zone, the actions of the Philippine personnel in firing on the boat were unjustifiable. Given the relative size of the vessels, the placement of the shots fired, and the absence of any evidence of an attempt to ram the coast guard vessel, the claim of self-defense is also insufficient to justify this action. In fact, the fishing vessel was in waters that are legitimately claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines under customary international law and the Law of the Seas Convention. Article 74 of the latter calls for nations in this situation to quickly come to an agreement on the use of such waters and to do nothing to jeopardize the reaching of such an agreement. So far, the Philippine government has not followed the spirit of this article.
There are important short-term and long-term issues at stake here. In the short-term, the resolution of the crisis would be reached by an official apology by the government of the Philippines speaking in its own name and taking responsibility for using unlawful force, and by issuing compensation to the victim’s family in the name of the government. Neither should pose an insurmountable problem for the Philippines’ One China Policy, particularly the second.
The long-term issue is an agreement on the administration and use of the overlapping parts of the exclusive economic zones between Taiwan and the Philippines. Absent such an agreement, tensions will continue and the probability of another tragic incident occurring will remain high.
David J. Lorenzo
Associate Professor
College of International Affairs
National Chengchi University
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