Executive Yuan spokesman Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) yesterday reiterated that the government holds no special position on the issue of a disputed area near the Japan-held Okinotori atoll and will respect the ruling of an international arbitration on the issue.
“Before the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf [CLCS] delivers a ruling, the government will not take any specific legal stance on the issue,” Tung said.
Until then, he said, the rights to the waters near Okinotori will remain in dispute, he said.
Tung’s remarks came shortly after Minister of the Interior Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) said that the atoll is just a reef and therefore not entitled to a 200 nautical mile (370km) exclusive economic zone.
Okinotori lies 860 nautical miles south of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip.
The issue arose from the seizure of a Taiwanese shipping boat — the Tung Sheng Chi No. 16 — by the Japan Coast Guard on April 25 in international waters near Okinotori. The ship and its crew were released after relatives of the ship’s captain paid a deposit of ￥6 million (US$53,988) as demanded by Japanese authorities.
Since then, Taiwanese patrol vessels have been deployed to the area to protect Taiwanese fishing boats operating there.
The former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration under president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had said Japan was entitled to a 12 nautical mile territory in the area because Okinotori was a reef.
However, since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and the Democratic Progressive Party came to office on May 20, Taiwan has taken a less forceful approach toward the dispute. This has fueled anger among Taiwanese fishermen who have been demanding that the DPP government maintain the KMT’s policy and protect their rights to operate there.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan maintains a policy that maritime disputes should be resolved peacefully through international arbitration or negotiations among all the parties concerned, in line with international law.
Until the CLCS hands down its ruling on the legal status of Okinotori, Japan should respect the rights of Taiwan and other nations to fish and freely navigate in the area, the ministry said.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS