Taiwan and Japan on Thursday conducted a joint maritime exercise for the first time since the severing of diplomatic relations in 1972, Japanese media reported.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) jointly conducted a search-and-rescue drill in waters south of Boso Peninsula near Japan’s Chiba Prefecture, Japan News reported.
CGA patrol ship Hsun Hu No. 9 and JCG vessel Sagami were in the joint drill, Japan News quoted sources who spoke on condition of anonymity as saying.
Photo: CNA
The Hsun Hu No. 9 departed Kaohsiung Port on June 21 and participated in international joint patrol missions in the central-western Pacific to combat illegal fishing before it docked at Odaiba Port in Tokyo from July 10 to Wednesday to replenish fuels and other supplies, it reported.
On Thursday, the Hsun Hu No. 9 departed Yokohama Port and sailed with the Sagami to the waters south of Boso Peninsula in the vicinity of Oshima Island for a joint maritime drill, in which both sides practiced how to share information and collaborate on search and rescue, it reported.
It is believed that the CGA and JCG collaborated on the drill in response to China’s ongoing activities in the East and South China seas, preparing for potential volatility with cross-strait tensions in mind, it reported.
The China Coast Guard has normalized its entry into the area near the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, and in May conducted its largest military exercise in waters surrounding Taiwan.
It has also performed military drills around the southern tip of Parece Vela (沖之鳥; known as the Okinotori Islands in Japan).
However, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi in a news conference yesterday said that the rescue drill jointly held by the CGA and JCG was “not aimed at a third nation, including China,” the Mainichi Shimbun reported.
Japan and Taiwan have signed “a memorandum of understanding” through contact agencies “to collaborate on maritime search and rescue, as well as countering smuggling and illegal entries,” Hayashi said.
The joint rescue drill was conducted according to the memorandum signed by the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association and Taiwan-Japan Relations Association, a CGA official said.
The Hsun Hu No. 9 was on regular patrol duty on the high seas, as the CGA sends ships to patrol such areas two to three times per year on request by the Fisheries Agency, and the vessel would return to Taiwan on Aug. 14, the official said.
The patrol ships would sail to other countries to replenish fuel, water, food and other supplies to ensure navigation safety, they said, adding that the Hsun Hu No. 9’s patrol is its second of the year.
Meanwhile, the JCG last month sent officials to Taiwan to meet with CGA Director-General Chang Chung-lung (張忠龍), Japan News reported.
The CGA’s Hsun Hu No. 8 docked at Odaiba in August last year, marking the first time a Taiwanese patrol ship docked at a port in the Tokyo Bay in a decade, it reported.
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