Amid fresh confrontation between China and Japan over the disputed Diaoyutai islets (釣魚台), a group of activists from Hong Kong and Taiwan gathered in Taipei yesterday urging the Taiwanese and Chinese governments to jointly take a “stronger stance” against Japan over the islands.
“Without government support on both sides of the Strait, efforts by civilian associations of [Taiwan, China and Hong Kong] alone will not be enough and will be to no avail,” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei County Councilor King Chieh-shou (金介壽) said at a forum discussion on the Diaoyutai issue.
Taiwan, China and Japan all claim possession of the islets, known as the Senkaku islands in Japanese, which are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and potential natural gas deposits. A Sept. 7 collision between a Chinese fishing boat and two Japanese patrol ships near the disputed area sparked a new wave of controversy and diplomatic tensions between Beijing and Tokyo.
A Taiwanese fishing boat, Hsin Teh Yi No. 186, was seized by Japan that same day for allegedly fishing illegally in the disputed area and another Taiwanese fishing boat, Feng Jung No. 106, was held the next day for the same reason. They were both released after a fine was paid.
“The governments on both sides of the Strait must set aside political disagreements and speak with one voice over the Diaoyutai islands lest Japan avails itself of the opportunity,” said Zheng Hailin (鄭海麟), a researcher with the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Huang Hsi-lin (黃錫麟), executive director of the Chung Hwa Baodiao Alliance, said activists could set sail from a fishing port in northern Taiwan “within days” — as early as today — for the islands.
Despite Taiwan’s claim and support from President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who sent a congratulatory message to the forum, Huang said it appears the government is trying to prevent activists from staging a protest.
“Security checks at some fishing ports have been tightened and boat owners have been discouraged by the authorities from chartering their boats for us,” he said.
Huang said the protest aims to “highlight the fishing rights of Taiwanese fishermen in shotai islands waters” rather than sovereignty, an issue which he said can only be resolved by official multilateral negotiations.
Given that some ports have been “basically sealed off,” the protesters decided to announce the time and location of their departure only at the last minute.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
RSS