Although the riots in Vietnam have cooled down for now, government agencies must collaborate on follow-up matters and continue providing assistance to Taiwanese nationals there, Premier Jiang Yi-huah said at today's weekly Cabinet meeting.
During the meeting, Jiang listened to reports on response measures taken by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) and Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC). He said that the Executive Yuan established a response task force under Vice Premier Mao Chi-kuo on May 15 and has since already summoned four meetings. The premier encouraged and thanked the participating agencies for their hard work and requested the MOFA and MOEA to keep an eye on the latest situation in Vietnam to aid in future decisions and responses.
The inter-ministerial platform divides the tasks among different agencies according to their responsibilities and missions, Premier Jiang said. These tasks include tracking the locations of Taiwanese tour groups, businesspeople and their family members; monitoring damage and recovery conditions at Taiwanese-owned factories; increasing seating on return flights to Taiwan; issuing temporary border permits; and negotiating security measures with the Vietnamese government to ensure the safety of Taiwanese businesspeople, expatriates and factories.
With the riots subsiding, Premier Jiang pointed to two areas to focus on in the follow-up stage: the responsibilities of the Vietnamese government and the assistance offered by Taiwan's government. These issues include the tally and classification of damaged factories, estimation of actual amounts of loss, negotiation with the Vietnamese government, as well as the provision of business loans, tax deductions, legal advice and even post-disaster counseling. Due to the extreme complexity of these tasks, they require the full cooperation and combined strengths of related government departments, he added.
The MOFA reported that Vietnam has responded positively to various ROC demands—to ensure the safety of Taiwanese businesspeople and expatriates, to compensate for their business damage, to protect their legal rights, and to restore their confidence in investing in Vietnam. The MOFA will continue to follow developments, take preventive measures, support Taiwanese businesses, help them seek reparation, strengthen cooperation among the two countries, and coordinate its efforts with the MOEA and other agencies.
The MOEA, meanwhile, said that it activated an emergency response mechanism after the riots broke out and organized a delegation to Vietnam to support Taiwanese firms there. The ministry's follow-up tasks including asking Vietnam to establish a designated service window to help Taiwanese firms verify losses and speed up compensations; requesting Vietnam to simplify procedures for imports of machinery; asking the Vietnamese government to ease work permit regulations for Taiwanese staff to help companies resume operations; helping Taiwanese companies transfer their production orders to other units in order to maintain normal operations; and assisting Taiwanese businesspeople wishing to withdraw or transfer their investments to other countries.
The MOTC stated that between May 14 and 18, it added three flights to the nine regular flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Taiwan, employing larger airliners and offering 1,738 (or 23 percent) extra seats. Passengers had no difficulty securing air tickets as unbooked seats were available every day.
The OCAC said it activated an emergency communication mechanism to provide speedy information to Taiwanese businesspeople there. Looking ahead, it will formulate a "Vietnam 513" credit guarantee program to help affected Taiwanese firms secure reconstruction loans from 12 local banks in Vietnam, enabling the firms to get back on their feet soon.