The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday pledged to safeguard Taiwanese fishermen’s interests at an upcoming meeting with Japan, amid demands by Japanese fishery associations that the boundaries set by a historic agreement between the two nations be narrowed.
“Regarding Okinawa fishery associations’ demands that Japanese authorities re-examine the areas in which the 2013 Taiwan-Japan fishery agreement are applicable, the Japanese government has yet to include the issue on the agenda of the fifth meeting of the Taiwan-Japan fishing commission from March 2 to March 4 in Taipei,” ministry spokesperson Eleanor Wang (王珮玲) said.
Wang said that if Japan brings up the issue during the meeting, Taiwan’s representatives would argue strongly for the nation’s interests and ask their Japanese counterparts to consider the achievements that have been made since the agreement’s signing.
Photo: Chu Tse-wei, Taipei Times
“At the moment, such demands are made only by local fishery groups in Japan and do not reflect the nation’s official stance,” Wang said, urging concerned parties to handle the matter in a rational manner.
Wang made the remarks one day after representatives of the Yilan-based Suao Fishermen’s Association and other fishery groups urged the government to stand up for their rights during the meeting, or they would mobilize fishermen to surround the disputed Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) as a form of protest.
The Taiwan-Japan fishing commission was established after the two nations in April 2013 signed a pact on fishing rights in the East China Sea near the Diaoyutais, which Japan calls the Senkaku Islands.
Under the terms of the agreement, Taiwanese and Japanese boats can operate freely in a 74,300km2 area around the archipelago.
An amendment to the pact was passed last year, allowing Taiwanese and Japanese fishing boats to take turns operating in the area north of the Yaeyama Islands and maintain a 4 nautical mile (7.4km) distance between each boat while fishing.
Wang said the agreement has established an institutionalized negotiation mechanism between Taipei and Tokyo, allowing both sides to jointly explore fishery resources and their fishermen to operate in peace.
“It is a concrete embodiment of [President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九)] East China Sea peace initiative and has set a successful precedent for peaceful resolution of conflicts,” Wang said.
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS