The captain of the fishing vessel Zai Yi Yu No.1 has been released from detention in Japan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement yesterday.
Wang Wen-tsung (王文聰) was released at 9am yesterday morning after a fine of about ?2 million (US$18,389) was paid by Taiwanese officials in Naha, Okinawa, on behalf of Wang and his crew, ministry spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) said yesterday.
The head of the Sino-Ryukyuan Cultural and Economic Association's Ryukyu Office -- Taiwan's de facto consulate in Okinawa -- Chen Chih-hung (陳桎宏), was able to secure Wang's release through "strong intervention," Lu said.
PHOTO: LEE LI-FA, TAIPEI TIMES
The Zai Yi Yu No.1 and its crew of nine were detained on May 25 by the Japanese coast guard, which accused them of violating Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
The ship and its crew were given a farewell luncheon hosted by Chen, and then set sail from Okinawa yesterday evening, Lu said.
They are expected to return to Taiwan today, he said.
The fine was paid by Chen, the spokesman added, and the ministry will collect the sum from the fishermen at a later date.
The release of Wang and his crew is the latest incident in an ongoing row between Taiwan and Japan over disputed waters near the Diaoyutais.
The EEZs of China, Japan and Taiwan overlap at various points throughout the area, and Taipei and Tokyo have yet to reach an accord on fishing rights in the contested region.
Taiwan and Japan have held 14 rounds of negotiations on the issue since 1996, but have yet to reach any agreement.
The next round of talks on fishing rights will be held on July 29 in Tokyo, Lu told reporters.
The negotiations will also be preceded by a round of preliminary talks designed to establish a framework for negotiations, he said.
The fishing dispute has become a divisive political issue, and the pan-blue camp has excoriated the Chen administration for what it views as a weak stance in relation to the matter.
Pan-blue-camp officials have said that the dispute is a question of sovereignty, and as such requires a firm response from Taiwan.
A number of lawmakers from the Legislative Yuan's Defense Committee on Tuesday boarded a navy frigate and sailed on an "inspection tour" to waters near the Diaoyutais (
The trip had been organized by the Ministry of National Defense after prodding from People First Party Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), and was led by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).
However, pan-green-camp officials say that the dispute is merely a trade issue, and that the nation's ties with Japan are not worth risking through "inflammatory actions" such as Wang's trip.
Meanwhile, the Jin Ming Tsair No.11, another Taiwanese fishing vessel, arrived in Pingtung yesterday after being released from detention in Okinawa on Tuesday.
Its captain, Chen Teh-liang (
He cited the stress of his recent detention as a motivating factor in the decision.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater