Legislators across party lines yesterday urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to protest to Japan after two Coast Guard Administration (CGA) officers were reportedly pinned to the deck of a ship they had boarded to help resolve a disagreement involving a Taiwanese fishing boat and Japanese patrol boats.
MOFA said it had already lodged a protest over Japan’s detention of the captain and a sailor of the fishing boat and the treatment of the coast guard officers.
‘STEPPING’ ON TAIWAN
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator John Chiang (蔣孝嚴), a former minister of foreign affairs, said Japan was acting “ridiculously” and it should have respected Taiwan’s coast guard.
“Since they [Taiwan’s coast guard] were wearing uniforms, [Japan] should have respected them. [The Japanese patrol] didn’t have any authority to pin our officers to the deck,” Chiang said.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said MOFA should protest to Tokyo through diplomatic channels, adding that the incident had hurt Taiwan’s national dignity.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said Japan’s actions were “excessive” and “unacceptable.”
“The uniformed coast guard were enforcing the law on behalf of their country,” Huang said. “Pinning them to the ground was equivalent to stepping on Taiwan’s dignity.”
Huang urged the coast guard to detain any Japanese ships that illegally cross into Taiwanese waters.
AT THE SCENE
The legislators’ remarks came after the CGA confirmed late on Tuesday that two officers were pinned down on the deck of the Formosa Chieftain No. 2, a 49-tonne recreational fishing boat, after they boarded it to help resolve a disagreement.
The ship was stopped on Sunday by Japanese authorities who suspect it of illegal fishing in waters near the disputed Diaoyutai (釣魚台) islets.
After Japan detained the boat’s skipper, Taiwan sent five coast guard vessels to the area, while Japan dispatched an equal number of ships, the CGA said.
Following negotiations, nine tourists on the boat were sent back to Taiwan on Monday night, but the captain and a sailor remain in detention pending completion of a Japanese investigation into whether the ship was operating illegally in Japanese waters.
The CGA said two coast guard officers were pinned to the deck of the boat for up to one minute by armed Japanese officers who cited “self-defense” reasons.
Thirty-eight hours later, the CGA issued a statement of protest to Japan saying it was “strongly dissatisfied” over the incident.
MOFA PROTEST
Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) said MOFA lodged a protest yesterday morning over the detention of the captain and sailor.
Taiwan’s representative office in Japan and the Association for East Asian Relations lodged a protest with the Japanese government, he said. The deputy representative of the Interchange Association, Japan’s de facto embassy in Taiwan, also accepted a copy of the letter, he said.
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