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Coast guard might patrol oilfields

Coast guard personnel salute as their vessel leaves Keelung yesterday to patrol Taiwanese territory in the East China Sea. PHOTO: HUANG MING-SHANG, TAIPEI TIMES

Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday said that the Coast Guard Administration has sent two vessels to patrol the nation's exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea.

"The ships are in the East China Sea to patrol and guard our fishing boats, not to emphasize our sovereign rights," Hsieh said at the legislature yesterday.

One legislator asked Hsieh if he would personally travel to the contested Tiaoyutai islets to reinforce the nation's claim to them.

"Taiwan should assert that the Tiaoyutai islet cluster is its territory. But to avoid international controversy, I wouldn't go to Tiaoyutai myself to stress our sovereignty over the island," he said.

Two coast guard ships, the 1,800-tonne Ho Hsing and the 800-tonne Mou Hsing, departed Keelung for the island chains on Thursday.

The coast guard yesterday said the mission was a routine patrol.

Coast Guard Administration Deputy Director Yu Chien-tzu (游乾賜) yesterday said the administration sends ships to the nation's exclusive economic zones twice a month.

He said that from February 2003 to last month, coast guard ships have patrolled the East China Sea 102 times, the South China Sea 131 times, and the waters east of Taiwan 35 times.

To prevent Taiwan's fishing fleets from being harassed by foreign naval and other vessels, the coast guard earlier this week proposed that bases be established in the Dongsha Islands, the Pratas Islands and Pengchiayu islet. The proposal requires Cabinet approval.

Meanwhile, the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun yesterday said the Japanese government would consider Beijing's suggestion that the two countries jointly search for oil resources in the contested oilfields of the East China Sea.

Some of the oilfields lie within Taiwan's exclusive economic zone.

A Chinese-language newspaper yesterday said the coast guard vessels were gathering information about Chinese and Japanese activity in the contested area.

The paper also said Beijing had recently permitted a "foreign company" to explore for oil in an area close to the Tiaoyutai islets, and that the ships would also observe its activities.
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