The government yesterday said that it had expressed its concern to Tokyo after a Taiwanese fishing vessel was reportedly harassed by two Japanese ships near the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), adding that it would defend regional stability amid the “increasingly intricate” situation.
The Sheng Fu No. 16, which is based in Yilan County’s Suao Township (蘇澳), on Tuesday reported that two Japan Coast Guard ships took photographs and asked it to stop its activities when it was about 63 nautical miles (117km) northeast of Yilan.
The Coast Guard Administration dispatched a 500-tonne vessel to patrol the area, but did not encounter any Japan Coast Guard ships, it said.
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang,Taipei Times
The Fisheries Agency later yesterday said that the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries confirmed that it had sent a ship to “warn” the Taiwanese vessel using an electronic bulletin board as “preventive action.”
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday reaffirmed the nation’s sovereignty over the islands and said the government would work to maintain regional stability.
She called on neighboring nations to remain calm and cease any unilateral action that might provoke regional instability.
The Executive Yuan has ordered the coast guard to do its utmost to ensure fishers’ rights and safety, and over the past four years Taiwanese fishers had not been obstructed when operating in the waters near the islands, she said.
“Fisheries rights are also a form of sovereignty rights,” Tsai said.
The regional situation has become increasingly intricate amid many ongoing military and political incidents, Tsai said, adding that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, her administration would continue to defend the nation’s interests and security.
The coast guard later yesterday said that the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries confirmed that it had sent a ship to “warn” the Taiwanese vessel using an electronic bulletin board as “preventive action.”
The Taiwanese ship’s vessel monitoring system showed that it had operated near, but did not exceed, the agreed border north of the Yaeyama Islands, Fisheries Agency Deputy Director-General Lin Kuo-ping (林國平) said.
Taiwan and Japan in 2013 signed a fisheries agreement that demarcated an agreed-upon area where fishers from both nations could operate. The area does not include the 12 nautical miles around the Diaoyutai Islands, which are claimed by Taiwan, Japan and China.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has instructed the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan to express the government’s concern about the case to Tokyo, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a statement yesterday.
After Chinese vessels repeatedly entered waters near the Diaoyutai Islands, Ishigaki City Council of Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture proposed changing the islands’ administrative name from “Tonoshiro” to “Tonoshiro Senkaku.”
The proposal was passed by the council on Monday.
Yilan County Council on June 11 passed a provisional motion recommending that the islands be renamed Toucheng Township Diaoyutai (頭城釣魚台). The council on Tuesday established an office charged with protecting the islands and invited fishers to visit the islands on July 7.
Additional reporting by CNA and Lin Ching-lun
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
AIR ALERT: China’s reservation of airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea could be an attempt to test the US’ response ahead of a Trump-Xi meeting, the NSB head said China’s attempts to infiltrate Taiwan are systematic, planned and targeted, with activity shifting from recruiting mid-level military officers to rank-and-file enlisted personnel, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) integrates national security, intelligence operations and “united front” efforts into a dense network to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage in Taiwan, Tsai said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. It uses specific networks to screen targets through exchange activities and recruiting local collaborators to establish intelligence-gathering organizations, he said. China is also shifting who it targets to lower-ranking military personnel,
RSS