Vice Premier Mao Chi-kuo today expressed his gratitude to Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) Vice Minister Shen Jong-chin, who led the delegation that visited Vietnam May 21-24 to extend the government's concern to Taiwanese businesspeople and expatriates affected by riots there and provide them with assistance.
The vice premier made these remarks after being briefed by Shen while convening the sixth meeting of the Executive Yuan's cross-ministerial task force dedicated to coordinating the government's response to the riots.
Mao tasked relevant agencies to proactively implement follow-up measures and establish a regulatory and review mechanism in order to effectively keep track of future developments.
Shen stated that the delegation first toured Bin Duong and Dong Nai provinces, visiting eight Taiwanese businesses that suffered damages in addition to organizing two symposiums with Taiwanese businesspeople.
The delegation then headed to Hanoi and conducted the ROC's first negotiation with Minister Bùi Quang Vinh of Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) and other officials. A list of assistance items required by Taiwanese businesspeople was provided to Vietnamese officials, and the two sides immediately set up a central-government-level window for dialogue, with the MOEA's Department of Investment Services and its counterpart, the MPI's Foreign Investment Agency, charged with overall liaison and coordination. The ROC suggested setting up a single window for handling compensation matters for Taiwanese businesspeople and forming a joint arbitration and compensation committee to carry out arbitration and reimbursement settlements.
As of May 25, some 358 Taiwanese factories had been broken into and suffered losses during the riots, with 21 of them set on fire, Shen pointed out. According to estimates by Taiwanese property insurance companies and Taiwanese business associations in Vietnam, the losses amounted to between US$150 million and US$500 million.
The MOEA stated it has formed another delegation, composed of experts, to assist Taiwanese businesspeople in Vietnam. The delegation's members consist of accountants, property insurance underwriters, attorneys as well as representatives and legal experts in the bicycle, shoe and textile industries. The delegation departed yesterday (May 26) to seriously affected areas in Vietnam and will stay until the 30th to help with rebuilding and work resumption.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), which sent psychiatrists to accompany Shen's delegation in order to assist any Taiwanese in Vietnam suffering from anxiety, fear, depression or insomnia after being traumatized by the riots, found there was indeed high demand for psychiatric services among Taiwanese businesspeople there. The MOHW thus formed a second delegation comprising psychologists and psychiatrists that departed to Vietnam today to provide them psychological counseling.