Taiwan investigators arrive in Manila

Chen Wen-chi (left), from Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice of the Department of International and Cross-Strait Legal Affairs, listens as Chen Ming-tang, deputy minister of Taiwan’s Justice Ministry, speaks while holding a picture showing a bullet found in the fishing vessel after it was attacked by Philippine coastguards, killing a Taiwanese fisherman, during a press conference in Taipei on May 19, 2013.  AFP /MANDY CHENG

MANILA, Philippines — The first batch of the Taiwanese investigating team from Taipei arrived in Manila a few hours after a team of the National Bureau of Investigation left for Taiwan to look into the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman.

Three Taiwanese accompanied by members of the NBI and Interpol arrived at 9:35 a.m. at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 via China Airlines flight no. CI701.

One of them who identified himself as Simon Lee said the Taiwanese team is composed of six members with the second batch arriving later in the afternoon.

“Our team will meet later,” Lee told reporters.

Simon Lee is the section chief of the International Criminal Affairs Division of the Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau. The other two members of Taiwan’s investigation bureau are Lin Guh Tyng and Jing-Wei Lee, both are staffers of the Forensic Science Division.

Lee and the other Taiwanese refuse to make further comments to the media.

An NBI team on the other hand left Manila via PR896 at 7:40 p.m. According to earlier reporters, the NBI intends to examine the slain fisherman’s boat, the Guang Ta Hsin 28, which Taiwanese investigators said had taken 45 hits from the Philippine patrol vessel MCS-3001.

The shooting of fisherman Hung Shih-chen has triggered an outrage among Taiwanese and a major diplomatic row between Manila and Taipei.