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Official urges Tiaoyutai decree

Taiwan has to officially decree the northern demarcation of Taiwan's 200-nautical mile (370km) exclusive economic zone that starts with the disputed Tiaoyutai Islands before holding negotiations with Japan, a Cabinet official said yesterday.

"I don't think there's much to talk about while our line of demarcation in that area is not clearly defined," said a high-ranking Cabinet official who requested anonymity.

His remark, however, conflicts with the stance of the Ministry of the Interior, which has leaned toward negotiating with Japan first before declaring the exclusive economic zone.

The official added that the Cabinet will deal with Japan over the issue first and then China.

"It sounds like a more practical approach because Japan is less difficult to deal with," he said.

Lying 150km northeast of Taiwan and situated in the East China Sea between Taiwan and Okinawa, the Tiaoyutai Islands have been regarded by the government as the jurisdiction of Ilan County and one of the nation's traditional fishing grounds.

The fishing zone, however, is in an area that Taiwan, Japan and China each claim is within their 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zones.

Under normal circumstances, the three countries would have to engage in trilateral negotiations to resolve their overlapping claims. Japan and China, however, have negotiated a bilateral fishing pact, leaving Taiwan out in the cold.

Taiwan started talks with Japan in 1996 but the two sides have not reached a consensus.

The heated dispute again caught the media's attention when Japan expelled Taiwanese fishing boats from what Tokyo calls its economic waters.

Premier Yu Shyi-kun has called on Japan and China to talk over the issue but his request has fallen on deaf ears.

In response to repeated calls from academics and politicians urging the government to take more concrete measures to tackle the problem, the government has decided to get tough.

It has been mulling declaring the northern demarcation of the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone that starts with the disputed Tiaoyutai Islands as a bargaining chip.

Japan has already leased three of the five isles from an Okinawa resident. The lease papers can be used as legal evidence at the international tribunal to prove ownership of the islands.

According to UN regulations, a coastal country like Taiwan can claim a 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

In February 1999, the government declared its coastal baselines to serve as the foundation for the demarcation of the 12-nautical mile (22km) territorial waters, 24-nautical mile (44km) fishery waters and the 200-nautical mile economic waters. It, however, failed to decree the demarcation of the 200-nautical mile economic zones because the northern-most point of the zone overlapped with those claimed by China and Japan.
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