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Regional assistance sought preventing more catastrophes for the environment

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged China and neighboring countries Thursday to cooperate in protecting regional environments and ecosystems, saying only joint efforts can help fend off potential environmental disasters.

Chien was referring chiefly to a hobbled oil tanker in the Taiwan Strait.

The tanker, the Front Tobago, carrying 249,000 tonnes of crude, was originally headed for Wakayama, Japan, where it was to discharge the oil. But on May 2, it lost power near Japan and its British owner, whom the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has not named, hired a Singapore-based vessel, the Smit Wijs, to tow it to Japan.

But last Sunday, Japan denied the ship permission to enter its waters.

The ship was then towed to the south of the Taiwan Strait off the coast of southern Pingtung County where its owner had sought permission to use facilities at Kaohsiung Port to unload its oil and launch repairs.

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), however, denied the request due to the risk of oil spillage and ordered the ship to leave Taiwan's territorial waters.

Officials said that transferring crude oil from one vessel to another in Taiwan's waters without Taipei's permission would violate the Ocean Pollution Control Act and the ROC Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf Law

Foreign Affairs Minister Eugene Chien (簡又新) said he has asked MOFA outposts in Britain, the US and Japan to raise concern with the governments of these countries and the International Maritime Organization, calling for a concerted move in case of any environmental damage.

MOFA confirmed that the tanker was moving toward China.
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