The Legislative Yuan’s Diplomacy and National Defense Committee has decided to back down from its plan to make an inspection trip to the disputed Diaoyutai (釣魚台) islands today, committee head Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said yesterday.
Lin, who on Monday was insistent on making the trip, told reporters yesterday that he had changed his mind after he received telephone calls from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) and senior officials from the Presidential Office on Monday night.
Lin, a KMT legislator, said Wu and the officials urged him “to allow the Ministry of Foreign Affairs more time to negotiate with Tokyo now that Japan has softened its stance because of Taipei’s hard line on the issue.”
PHOTO: HSU CHAO-CHANG, CNA
“Since activists and Coast Guard Administration vessels approached to within 0.4 nautical miles of the Diaoyutais yesterday [Monday], we have effectively asserted our sovereignty over the islands,” Lin said. “I think the party, the administration and the Presidential Office should take a united stance [on the issue]. Therefore, after consulting some friends on the committee, we agreed to suspend the trip.”
The committee was originally scheduled to take a fact-finding tour of the island group under the escort of naval vessels today to “claim sovereignty and protect the rights of Taiwanese fishing boats.”
The plan was conceived following an incident that occurred on June 10 in waters near the Diaoyutais, when a Taiwanese boat, registered in Taipei County, carrying recreational fishermen sank after it collided with a Japanese patrol vessel.
Boat owner Ho Hung-yi (何鴻義) was held for three days by Japanese authorities on the island of Ishigaki.
At a separate setting yesterday, Ho, accompanied by Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) of the KMT, held an international press conference in which they accused the Japanese side of ramming into the boat on purpose and said that Japanese officials had then lied about the incident afterward.
Chou hosted the press conference with DVDs, press statements, photos and footage available in English.
“We wanted to tell the whole story and provide the evidence so that the international media can tell our friends around the world how immoral the Japanese were when they struck the Taiwanese boat,” Chou said in English.
The attendees were shown photos and video footage that Ho said were taken by some fishermen and crew members using mobile phones and cameras, and a radar picture from the Japanese government.
The radar picture showed the course of the fishing boat and the relative location of the patrol vessel and demonstrated that the Taiwanese boat did not navigate in a zigzag pattern as Japanese officials have claimed, crew member Hsiang Yan-hao (項彥豪) said.
“Our boat was not weaving, because the scene was captured without any evidence of swaying,” Hsiang said when playing the footage taken by the fishermen.
Hsiang said the Japanese patrol vessel hit the fishing boat deliberately, which he said was proven by footage showing the patrol vessel grazing the boat after the first strike.
“The Japanese patrol vessel hit the bridge of the boat and then it reversed, which shows that the collision was planned,” Hsiang said.
Hsiang said they hid their mobile phones and cameras in a refrigerator following the collision.
Japanese authorities have released the results of an investigation into the incident in which it says the Japan Coast Guard had recommended that authorities charge both Ho and the captain of the Japanese patrol boat with “incurring danger due to negligence of official duties” and additionally charge the Japanese captain with “incurring harm due to negligence of official duties.”
Chou yesterday said the investigation was “unacceptable, because the Japanese have lied several times to cover up this immoral behavior.”
“Japan said the patrol vessel approached the boat to determine its name, but the footage shows that the Japanese shouted its name before getting close to the boat,” Chou said. “The time recorded on the photos shows that the rescue was delayed for almost an hour. The Japanese lied again when they said they rescued the crew members immediately.”
The Taiwanese fishing boat and Japanese patrol boat collided at 3:38am.
Hsiang said the footage shows that the patrol vessel shone a very strong searchlight into the bridge during the pursuit of the fishing boat, which made it difficult for Ho to see the approach of the Japanese vessel clearly.
“We didn’t know what hit us at the time,” he said.
Chou demanded that the Japanese government offer an apology and immediately compensate the fishermen for their losses — including the sunken fishing boat, the fishing equipment aboard and the psychological distress they suffered.
A fourth public debate was held today about restarting the recently decommissioned Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, ahead of a referendum on the controversial issue to be held in less than two weeks. A referendum on Aug. 23 is to ask voters if they agree that “the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant should continue operations upon approval by the competent authority and confirmation that there are no safety concerns.” Anyone over 18 years of age can vote in the referendum. The vote comes just three months after its final reactor shut down, officially making Taiwan nuclear-free. Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) represented
ENDORSING TAIWAN: Honduran presidential candidate Nasry Afura said that Honduras was ‘100 times better off’ when it was allied with Taipei The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it would explore the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations with Honduras based on the principle of maintaining national interests and dignity. The ministry made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions regarding an article titled: “Will Taiwan Regain a Diplomatic Ally?” published in The Diplomat on Saturday. The article said Honduras’ presidential election in November could offer Taiwan the chance to regain an ally, as multiple candidates have promoted re-establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in March 2023 in favor of Beijing, but since switching its diplomatic recognition,
Scoot announced yesterday that starting in October, it would increase flights between Taipei and Japan’s Narita airport and Hokkaido, and between Singapore and Taipei. The low-cost airline, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, also said it would launch flights to Chiang Rai in Thailand, Okinawa and Tokyo’s Haneda airport between December and March next year. Flights between Singapore and Chiang Rai would begin on Jan. 1, with five flights per week operated by an Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, Scoot said. Flights between Singapore and Okinawa would begin on Dec. 15, with three flights per week operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline said. Services between Singapore
‘ANGRY’: Forgetting the humiliations and sacrifices of ‘the people of the Republic of China’ experienced disqualified Lai from being president, Ma Ying-jeou said Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday criticized President William Lai (賴清德) over what he called “phrasing that downplayed Japan’s atrocities” against China during World War II. Ma made the remarks in a post on Facebook on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Ma said he was “angry and disappointed” that Lai described the anniversary as the end of World War II instead of a “victory in the war of resistance” — a reference to the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). The eight-year war was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis
RSS