Japan, Taiwan must exercise restraint: Coast Guard

`The previous 14 rounds of Taiwan-Japanese fishery talks did not make significant headway because Taiwan would not forsake its sovereignty claim to the Tiaoyutais, which Japan has held since 1971.'

Both Taiwan and Japan should exercise self-restraint before the two countries work out a solution to their fishing rights dispute through negotiations, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday.

The CGA made the call after a Japanese coast-guard ship issued a warning to a Taiwan fishing boat operating near the middle line of the two countries' overlapping economic waters, also known locally as the "tentative demarcation line," earlier in the day.

notice served

The Chinjuifeng No. 168 from Suao (蘇澳) in the northeastern county of Ilan was operating in waters some 60 nautical miles (111km) east of the Tiaoyutai Islands -- a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea claimed by Taiwan, Japan and China -- when it was served a Japanese notice asking it to leave the region.

CGA officials said that as the Chinjuifeng was operating within the "tentative demarcation line" that has been zoned tacitly between the two countries regarding fishing operations, the CGA immediately ordered its Keelung patrol vessel to sail to the disputed region to protect the Taiwan fishing boat's safety.

The Keelung patrol vessel was on a North Pacific patrol mission at the time. In addition, the CGA sent two other ships from Taiwan to the region.

According to CGA officials, the three patrol ships have arrived at the disputed waters by yesterday evening. The officials said the CGA will do its utmost to protect local fishermen's safety.

The officials said the CGA has also informed the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Fishery Administration of the latest incident and asked for their assistance in dealing with the issue.

new talks

Since the two countries have agreed to hold a new round of talks to resolve their fishing rights dispute in Tokyo on July 29, the CGA officials said they hope Japan can exercise self-restraint to avoid complicating the issue.

The incident came after the Ministry of National Defense, under strong pressure from opposition lawmakers, sent a Knox-class frigate to patrol the disputed waters on Tuesday to accentuate Taiwan's determination to protect its fishermen's rights and safety. Some 15 lawmakers from across the party spectrum, led by Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), took the cruise aboard the warship in the company of Defense Minister Lee Jye (李傑).

At the heart of the dispute is the two countries' sovereignty claim to the Tiaoyutai Islands. Both Tokyo and Taipei claim that the island group falls within their 200-mile exclusive economic zones. Japan often fines ship owners and impounds Taiwanese fishing vessels that enter waters close to the Tiaoyutais.

no headway

The previous 14 rounds of Taiwan-Japanese fishery talks did not make significant headway because Taiwan would not forsake its sovereignty claim to the Tiaoyutais, which Japan has held since 1971.

The dispute came into the limelight again recently after some 50 Taiwan fishing boats staged a rare protest in the disputed waters over Japanese coast-guard ships' frequently chasing them away from the region.

A spokeswoman for the Suao Fishermen's Association said that Japan should refrain from sending coast-guard ships to patrol waters close to the "tentative demarcation line" now that the two countries will meet in July to discuss measures for joint exploration for and management of resources in their overlapping economic waters.