The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday protested a Japanese local government after it renamed the administrative designation of a group of islands claimed by Taiwan, Japan and China.
The ministry in a press release expressed regret and said that it has lodged a “sober protest” to the Japanese side through diplomatic channels, without indicating whether the protest was verbal or written.
The statement came after the Ishigaki City Government earlier in the day renamed its administrative district that includes the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, from “Tonoshiro” to “Tonoshiro Senkaku.”
Photo: Reuters / Kyodo / file photo
The Ishigaki City Council on June 22 passed a resolution directing the local government to rename the islands.
Ishigaki officials in July said that renaming the islands was to send a message to China, which has increased its harassment of Japanese fishing boats in the area.
The ministry said that the Diaoyutais are part of the territory of the Republic of China (ROC).
“The Diaoyutai Islands are undoubtedly inherent parts of the ROC. The fact that our country has sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Islands will not change because of unilateral actions by other countries,” it said.
The ministry urged the Japanese side to show restraint and refrain from interrupting Taiwanese fishing operations in the area so that the bilateral friendship is not affected.
On Sunday, the Hsin Ling Po No. 236, a Taiwanese fishing boat, was reportedly hit by a Japan Coast Guard vessel in waters west of the Diaoyutais.
No one was hurt, but the fishing boat was damaged.
The coast guard said that the Hsin Ling Po No. 236 was illegally operating inside the 12 nautical mile (22.2km) territorial waters of the islands.
The fishers denied operating inside that area.
In July, a spokesperson for the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, which represents Japan’s interests in Taiwan, said that the renaming of the administrative district would not affect the fishing rights of Taiwanese.
According to a fisheries agreement signed by Taiwan and Japan in 2013, Taiwanese fishers are allowed to operate in the area, although not in waters within 12 nautical miles of the islands.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS