Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) yesterday condemned Chinese fishers for using cyanide and urged them to respect the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Speaking to reporters after the International Conference on Marine Environmental Management in Taipei, Kuan made the remarks following the seizure of a Chinese vessel carrying cyanide by the Coast Guard Administration for illegally operating near the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea.
Cyanide fishing involves spraying a sodium cyanide mixture into a habitat to stun fish for capture. The practice harms not only the target species, but also other marine organisms, including coral reefs.
Photo courtesy of the Ocean Affairs Council
All countries must respect UNCLOS, she said, condemning China’s violations of international law and vowing that Taiwan would firmly defend its waters.
Kuan said Taiwan would work to enhance its maritime surveillance capabilities, starting with the development of drones before progressively expanding to crewed aircraft.
Meanwhile, she also disclosed that the council’s latest National Ocean Policy White Paper would be released at the end of this month.
The white paper is released annually in accordance with the Ocean Basic Act (海洋基本法). It serves as the blueprint for the government’s ocean policy, outlining Taiwan’s vision for marine development and its policy objectives.
Marine environmental management encompasses plastic waste, climate change, overfishing and emerging sources of pollution, she said, adding that only through international cooperation, institutional development and technological application can these issues be effectively addressed.
Although the council has only been in existence for seven years, it has implemented mechanisms for ocean monitoring and data sharing, Kuan said.
Yesterday’s conference brought together experts from the US, France, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and India, as well as various Taiwanese academics, focusing on key issues such as marine environmental protection, pollution prevention, waste management, water and sediment quality management, and international cooperation.
They included representatives from the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Pacific Strike Team of the US Coast Guard National Strike Force, the Marine Debris Research Center of Hawaii Pacific University, France’s Center of Documentation, Research and Experimentation on Accidental Water Pollution, Japan’s Marine Disaster Prevention Center, the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies of Japan and the South Korean Fisheries Resources Agency.
During the event, a memorandum of agreement was signed between Taiwan and Indonesia that aims to deepen the two nations’ partnership in marine debris management and lay a solid foundation for sustainable development in the Indo-Pacific region.
Additional reporting by Hung Ting-hung
The subsidiary of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in Kumamoto, Japan, turned a profit in the first quarter of this year, marking the first time the first fab of the unit has become profitable since mass production started at the end of 2024. According to the contract chipmaker’s financial statement released on Friday, Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc (JASM), a joint venture running the fab in Kumamoto, posted NT$951 million (US$30.19 million) in profit in the January-to-March period, compared with a loss of NT$1.39 billion in the previous quarter, and a loss of NT$3.25 billion in the first quarter of
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
RESOLUTE BACKING: Two Republican senators are planning to introduce legislation that would impose immediate sanctions on China if it attempts to invade Taiwan US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday reaffirmed US congressional support for Taiwan, saying the US and “all freedom-loving people” have a stake in preventing China from seizing Taiwan by force. Johnson made the remarks in an interview with Fox News Sunday on US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last week. In an interview that aired on Friday on Fox News, just as Trump wrapped up a high-stakes visit to China, he said he has yet to green-light a new US$14 billion arms package to Taiwan and that it “depends on China.” “It’s a very good
US President Donald Trump yesterday said he would speak to President William Lai (賴清德) as his administration considers whether to move ahead with a US$14 billion weapons sale to Taiwan — a potential arms deal that has drawn criticism from China. “Well, I’ll speak to him. I speak to everybody,” Trump told reporters yesterday when asked if he had any plans to call his counterpart, although he did not offer a time frame for when such a conversation could take place. Trump previously said he would speak to the person “that’s running Taiwan,” without specifying who he meant. “We have that situation very
RSS