Taiwan and Japan struck a compromise in talks in Taipei on Friday about allowing fishing boats from both sides to operate in overlapping waters in the East China Sea, Fishery Agency Director-General James Sha (沙志一) said.
Under the agreement, there will be no exclusion of fishing boats from either side in fishing grounds shared by fishing boats from the two countries.
Ground rules were also established to avoid friction caused by different operating methods, Sha said.
The rules were targeted at the 4,530km2 zone surrounding the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in the East China Sea that was opened to Taiwanese fishing vessels in a historic fishing agreement signed by Taiwan and Japan in April last year.
The two sides agreed that all fishing boats should adopt the Japanese method of operations in one area of the zone (known as Z1) east of the Diaoyutais from May to early July and in another area north of the Yaeyama Islands (known as Z2) from April to July, the traditional tuna-fishing season, Sha said.
At all other times of the year, fishing boats should adopt the Taiwanese approach, the official said.
The Japanese side will also notify Taiwan’s fishing association before its boats can operate in those two areas, Sha said.
The guidelines were needed to prevent conflicts as Japanese fishing boats draw their lines in a north-south direction and maintain a 4 nautical mile (7.4km) distance between them, while the Taiwanese boats deploy lines in an east-west direction and maintain a distance of 1 nautical mile.
Fishermen from the Yaeyama Islands had also complained about being forced out of the Z2 area by the large numbers of Taiwanese fishing boats converging there since the agreement was signed, Sha said.
Both sides also agreed to make sure all fishing boats are insured, he said.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by