A long-line fishing trawler that has been out of contact since Tuesday has been captured by Somali pirates, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said yesterday.
Speaking via telephone with the Taipei Times, Samuel Chen (陳士良), director-general of the ministry's Department of African Affairs, said that based on information it received from another Taiwanese fishing vessel, the 79-tonne Jih-chun Tsai No. 68 (日春財68號) appeared to be on its way to the pirates' base on the Somali coast after being seized.
“There has been no communication since the vessel [Jih-chun Tsai No. 68] was captured. We haven't been able to contact the captain and probably won't be able to until they arrive at the pirates' base, which is expected [today],” Chen said.
He said that there were 14 crew members on board, including Taiwanese captain Wu Lai-yu (吳來于), two Chinese and 11 Indonesians.
News of the capture only came to light after the Ruei Man Fa (瑞滿發), another Taiwanese fishing vessel, informed a local radio station that it had been attacked by what appeared to be a Taiwanese trawler, now believed to be the Jih-chun Tsai No. 68.
A press release issued by the ministry on Thursday night said the Ruei Man Fa was attacked about 730km southeast of Somalia's Cape Guardafui.
Chen yesterday visited Wu's wife in Pingtung's Siaoliouciou (小琉球) to let her know that the government was working for the quick and safe return of her husband.
He also visited the families of Hsu Ching-tsuan (許清鑽) and Huang Ken-jui (黃崑瑞), the two Taiwanese on board the Ruei Man Fa, in Donggang Township (東港), Pingtung County.
The Ruei Man Fa is heading to the Maldives to seek medical assistance for an Indonesian crew member who was shot during a three-hour chase, Chen said, adding that all other crew members were unharmed.
He said the government was seeking help from the Piracy Reporting Center at the International Maritime Organization's International Maritime Bureau in Kuala Lumpur, the UK Maritime Trade Organization and the US Fifth Fleet under Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain to rescue the hijacked vessel.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS