Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) is to summon Japan’s representative to Taiwan today to protest against Tokyo’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing boat in waters near the Okinotori atoll on Monday.
“It is the ministry’s duty to do everything in its power to negotiate with Japan and lodge a protest against the incident,” Association for East Asian Relations Secretary-General Peter Tsai (蔡明耀) told a morning news conference at the ministry in Taipei.
Tsai said Representative to Japan Shen Ssu-tsun (沈斯淳) was scheduled to meet with Interchange Association, Japan President Tadashi Imai at 4pm yesterday to hand over the government’s formal complaint about the seizure of the Tung Sheng Chi No. 16, while Lin would meet this morning with Japanese Representative to Taiwan Mikio Numata.
Photo: CNA
However, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida told a news conference in Tokyo that his government does not accept Taiwan’s stance that Okinotori is not an island.
It has lodged a protest through its representative office in Taipei — the Interchange Association, Japan, he said.
Okinotori is an island as established under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and Japan has the right to an exclusive economic zone around the atoll, Kishida said.
Tsai also said that Japan had yesterday expressed its displeasure with President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) comments on Wednesday about Japan’s “illegal expansion of rights by unilaterally defining the uninhabited rock as an ‘island.’”
“The dispute over the atoll’s legal status has to be settled by the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf,” Tsai said.
Taiwanese fishermen should avoid fishing in disputed waters for the moment because negotiations with Japan might not see immediate results, he said, adding that the government would endeavor to safeguard the public’s interests, but it wants to prevent Taipei-Tokyo ties from being affected by the incident.
Ma yesterday reiterated that Taiwan would uphold the freedom of its fishermen operating on the high seas.
He said he had asked the Coast Guard Administration to send vessels to protect Taiwanese fishing boats, adding that “this is our fundamental right and we will not budge.”
Ma said the Okinotori atoll was originally less than 3 ping (9.9m2) in area, “but has been expanded to hundreds of square meters through artificial construction.”
Japan’s claims to have rights over a 200 nautical mile (370km) exclusive economic zone is “in violation of international law and the definition of an island under Article 121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” he said.
Okinotori is a reef, a rock and not an island, and it “is small and cannot sustain human habitation” even though Japan describes it as an island, he said.
The Japan Coast Guard “seized our fishing ship [within the 200 nautical mile zone], which is a serious violation of freedom to fish on the high seas as stipulated in Article 87 of the convention,” Ma said.
“Fishing [on the high seas] is a very important right,” he said, adding that Japan can build artificial islands or facilities at sea, but no matter how much it builds, such artificial creations would not be Japanese territory.
The Tung Sheng Chi No. 16, its Taiwanese captain and nine Chinese and Indonesian crew members were released on Tuesday after the boat’s owner paid the ¥6 million (US$54,240) “security deposit” demanded by Japan.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
CHINA’s BULLYING: The former British prime minister said that he believes ‘Taiwan can and will’ protect its freedom and democracy, as its people are lovers of liberty Former British prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday said Western nations should have the courage to stand with and deepen their economic partnerships with Taiwan in the face of China’s intensified pressure. He made the remarks at the ninth Ketagalan Forum: 2025 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. Johnson, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, said he had seen Taiwan’s coastline on a screen on his indoor bicycle, but wanted to learn more about the nation, including its artificial intelligence (AI) development, the key technology of the 21st century. Calling himself an
South Korea yesterday said that it was removing loudspeakers used to blare K-pop and news reports to North Korea, as the new administration in Seoul tries to ease tensions with its bellicose neighbor. The nations, still technically at war, had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. It said in June that Pyongyang stopped transmitting bizarre, unsettling noises along the border that had become a major nuisance for South Korean residents, a day after South Korea’s loudspeakers fell silent. “Starting today, the military has begun removing the loudspeakers,”