Taiwan is prepared to do whatever it takes to defend Taiwanese fishing boats, even sending coast guard vessels to protect them, officials said yesterday.
They spoke following reports that Japan had been expelling Taiwanese fishing boats from what Tokyo calls its economic waters in the East China Sea and Yellow Sea.
The Ministry of National Defense said that it would deploy military vessels to support the coast guard if necessary.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (
Officials at the Fisheries Administration under the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture yesterday condemned Japan's moves.
"It is unreasonable for Japan to disperse our fishing boats before the negotiations are concluded," the administration said.
"We have lodged a protest through diplomatic means and urged Japan to exercise restraint and continue to negotiate with us," it said.
Ruling and opposition lawmakers have criticized the government for its apparent inaction over the issue, after Japan's Coast Guard recently chased away Taiwanese fishing boats using water and paint cannon.
Japan issued a warning on Feb. 1 against foreign fishermen working in what it says are its economic waters.
Taiwanese fishermen have threatened to resort to violent means to fight Japan's Coast Guard.
Chien said Taiwan would not recognize the Feb. 1 statement issued by Japan, and called on the Japanese to work toward an agreement with Taiwan.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which took effect in 1994, states that each coastal nation has jurisdiction over resources, research and environmental protection for up to 200 nautical miles from its coast.
Because Taiwan is not a member of the UN, the government unilaterally announced its exclusive economic zone in 1998.
However, the self-declared exclusive economic zones of Japan, Taiwan and China overlap. The disputed waters are traditional fishing areas for Taiwan, further complicating the issue, officials said.
A fishery pact sealed between Japan and China according to the UN convention went into effect in June 2001, replacing the 1975 Fishery Agreement and detailing rules over boundaries and fishery arrangements.
The agreement created a temporary co-management fishery zone, which is where Taiwanese vessels have been expelled from several times recently, the officials said.
Taiwan and Japan have for years disputed the sovereignty of the Tiaoyutai islands, situated between Japan's Okinawa prefecture and Taiwan's Ilan County. The island group is reportedly rich in fishing and oil resources.
Japan's recent unilateral rental of part of the island group, known as Senkakus in Japanese, to uphold its sovereignty over the disputed archipelagoes also claimed by China, has drawn angry protests from Taipei and Beijing.
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