The Philippines plans to deploy several new patrol boats in waters off its northern regions, where its exclusive economic zone overlaps with that of Taiwan, a senior Philippine Coast Guard officer said yesterday.
The Philippines is expected to receive 10 multirole patrol boats from Japan soon. The boats come as Manila and other South China Sea claimants — including Taiwan — face Beijing’s increasing efforts to solidify its disputed territorial claims, Philippine news outlets reported.
The boats are to patrol waters surrounding the Philippines and to protect its fishery resources, said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Some of the new 40m boats are to be deployed in waters in the northern Philippines, the officer added.
Separately, the Philippine Coast Guard issued a statement yesterday confirming a standoff with a Coast Guard Administration vessel last week.
The incident occurred when the Philippine Coast Guard apprehended a Taiwanese fishing vessel, the Ming Jin Cai No. 6, 18 nautical miles (33.3km) northeast of the Philippines’ Batan Islands on May 25, it said.
The Philippine Coast Guard was towing the fishing boat when a Taiwanese cutter appeared, blocked the Philippine vessel and demanded the release of the fishing boat, it said.
After four hours of negotiation, the fishing boat was released.
The Philippine statement came after the Coast Guard Administration released a video of the standoff on Monday.
The incident resulted from differences of opinion between the two sides on the scope of law enforcement duties by the respective authorities.
Once foreign fishing boats enter waters within 24 nautical miles of the Philippines’ contiguous zone — an area contiguous to its territorial sea — they are subject to inspection or even detention, a Philippine official has said, citing an administrative decree issued by the country last year.
Taiwan, however, does not consider the Philippines’ claim of rights in a contiguous zone of 24 nautical miles as compliant with international law and sees the area between 12 nautical miles and 24 nautical miles off the Philippine coast as part of an exclusive economic zone in which Taiwanese fishing boats can operate legally.
Fishery authorities from the two nations are set to hold a meeting in Taipei soon to address the matter. The meeting follows three fishing incidents last month, two of which involved Taiwanese fishing boats in the overlapping economic zone of the two countries, while the other incident took place in Philippine territorial waters.
The incidents happened as both countries are trying to sign an agreement covering law enforcement cooperation in their overlapping economic waters. The agreement covers a consensus reached by the two countries, including 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.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS