Six central government departments of China recently issued a joint circular to temporarily halt labor exports to owners of Taiwan fishing boats.

The move is to protest Taiwan authorities' failure to protect the legal rights of mainlanders who work for fishing boats operating out of the island province.

For a long time, claims have been made that these workers have not received equal treatment by the Taiwan authorities.

In the past years, a number of incidents have occurred threatening the lives and property of fishing laborers from the mainland. In a 1999 case, the captain of a Taiwan-based fishing vessel shot dead 15 mainland workers, but he has not yet been charged in court.

(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2002)