Taiwan and the Philippines are expected to soon sign an agreement covering law enforcement cooperation in fishing matters in their overlapping economic waters, a Taiwanese official said yesterday, adding that the pact is under “final review.”
The content of the agreement is still pending final approval by the Philippine government before the two countries can sign the pact, said Elliot Charng (常以立), director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
However, Charng said he expected that the agreement would be signed in the coming months.
“We hope the agreement will be signed before the fishing season starts in April,” he told reporters at a news briefing.
Taipei and Manila have been negotiating an agreement on maritime law enforcement cooperation since last year, one of the steps taken to improve relations after Philippine Coast Guard officers shot up a Taiwanese fishing boat on May 9 last year, in waters where the two countries’ exclusive economic zones overlap.
The shooting incident caused the death of one of the Taiwanese crew members on the boat, sparking outrage in Taiwan and the deterioration of bilateral relations.
During a series of fishery meetings following the shooting incident to try to get relations back on track, the two sides reached a consensus on several issues regarding maritime law enforcement cooperation.
These include no use of force or violence when patrolling fishing grounds, the establishment of a mechanism to inform each other in the event of fishery incidents and the release of detained fishermen and boats as soon as possible.
Although the agreement has yet to be signed, Taiwanese and Philippine officials have said repeatedly that law enforcement authorities on both sides have been implementing the consensus in an effort to avoid fishing disputes.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS