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MOFA rejects Chinese boat protest

This picture from the Japan Coast Guard shows a Taiwanese fishing boat that sank after colliding with a Japanese patrol vessel off the Diaoyutai islands yesterday. The coast guard said all 16 aboard the vessel were rescued. PHOTO: AFP/JAPAN COAST GUARD VIA JIJI PRESS

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday that Taiwan is not a province of China and that China does not have maritime jurisdiction over Taiwan's territorial waters, which cover the Diaoyutai Islands.

Ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) made the comments after her Chinese counterpart Qin Gang (秦剛) in Beijing protested over the illegal incursion of a Japanese patrol boat into Chinese territorial waters that resulted in a collision with a “China Taiwan” boat, which later sank.

“Saying the boat was from ‘China Taiwan’ could not be further from the truth. Taiwan is not a province of China and Taiwan’s territorial waters cover the Diaoyutais,” Yeh said.

The Diaoyutai islands, known as Senkaku in Japanese, are an island chain 222km north of Taiwan. They are claimed by Taiwan, China and Japan.

The two boats collided at 2:23am yesterday, 11km southwest of the Diaoyutais. The Taiwanese boat capsized approximately one hour after the accident, Yeh said.

The 13 fishermen and three crew members who were aboard the Taiwanese vessel that collided with the Japanese patrol boat Koshiki had been rescued, she said yesterday morning and were being treated at a hospital on Ishigaki Island, part of the Ryuku chain.

The 13 fishermen returned to Taiwan late yesterday.

However, the three crewmembers will remain in Ishigaki until Japanese authorities complete their investigation into the incident, a ministry press release said.

The press release also said the foreign ministry immediately asked the Taiwan representative office in Japan to reiterate Taiwan’s jurisdiction over the Diaoyutais.

The ministry also urged the office to resume a dialogue with the Japanese government on settling the dispute over the jurisdiction over the Diaoyutais and the surrounding seas.
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