Frustrated with delays to a US report on the death of fishing boat captain Wu Lai-yu (???) during an anti-piracy operation in the waters off Somalia, his daughter yesterday called the US “hypocrites.”
“I am not comfortable with this. It seems that the US was just saying one thing and doing another,” Wu’s daughter told the Taipei Times by telephone.
Wu’s daughter, who wished to have her name withheld, said her family learned from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the US would provide a full account of the incident “no later than last Friday.”
“It [the US] told us that it would inform us about any progress in its investigation, but it hasn’t told us anything yet,” she said.
Despite reaching an agreement in April to pay a ransom for Wu’s release after his vessel,Jih Chun Tsai No. 68, was hijacked by pirates on March 31 last year, Wu was killed when a unit of the US Navy, acting as part of a NATO anti-piracy mission, engaged the pirates on May 11.
Officials from the Kaohsiung branch of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) visited Wu’s family twice after the US confirmed Wu’s death on May 21 in response to an enquiry by the ministry when it learned the news from a NATO press release.
On Monday, three officials from the ministry and the Fisheries Agency visited Wu’s family and delivered the original copy of a letter of condolence for Wu’s death sent from US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell.
AIT officials were invited by the ministry to join the officials in delivering the letter, but they declined to go, a ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
Wu’s daughter said she and her mother will take part in a protest on July 26 “to have our voice heard.”
When asked when the report could be expected, AIT spokesperson Sheila Paskman did not set a definitive time frame, saying that the AIT has not received the report yet, but people were “working on it every day.”
This article was posted by MaritimeSecurity.Asia via taipeitimes.com. To find out more, please visit MaritimeSecurity.Asia
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