The Japanese government has rejected Taiwan’s protests over its use of excessive force against a Taiwanese fishing boat suspected of fishing earlier this month in disputed waters, Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday.
The Tung Pan Chiu No. 28 on March 3 was chased off by Japanese patrol boats when it allegedly encroached and fished in an area where the two nations’ exclusive economic zones overlap.
It was driven away from that area again the next day by Japanese boats, which also attacked it with a water cannon.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
Hsieh told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee that the Representative Office of Taiwan in Tokyo on March 5 lodged a protest with Japanese authorities.
The office protested Japan’s “excessive use of force,” which Tokyo, insisting that its actions were carried out according to the law, refused to acknowledge, he said.
The Japanese government provided photographs it took on March 3, which showed crew members on the Taiwanese boat catching fish and that there were two fish on the boat, Hsieh said.
Diplomacy should be carried out in good faith, Hsieh said, and since the office was unable to provide counterproof, it could only trust Japan’s claims.
The Japanese government said that the patrol boats on March 3 asked the Tung Pan Chiu No. 28 to stop and be inspected, but it fled, Hsieh said.
The next day, the boat was against spotted operating near the disputed zone, he added.
Citing an investigation by the Fisheries Agency, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said that the fishing boat on March 4 did not cross a tentative boundary delimited by the two sides, but the Japanese ships crossed the line when they were chasing the fishing boat.
Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries should have informed the Taiwanese government before it started chasing the boat, to avoid affecting the nations’ friendship, he said.
Japan lacks hard evidence that the fishing boat had breached any agreements between the two nations before it chased and attacked the vessel, Wu added.
The government would assert its rights as it continues its efforts to resolve the dispute with Japan and work out fishing rights in an area south of Japan’s Yaeyama and Miyako islands, where the two nations’ exclusive economic rights overlap, Wu said.
Taiwan-Japan Relations Association Secretary-General Chang Shu-ling (張淑玲) — who headed the latest rounds of bilateral fishing talks that concluded in Taipei on Saturday last week — said that although the two sides’ stance on fishing rights in the disputed maritime zone does not align, the association “made known [the nation’s] stance” on the matter.
The association would continue negotiating with Japan over Taiwanese fishing rights in the zone in future fisheries talks and Taiwan-Japan Maritime Affairs Collaboration Dialogue meetings, she said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
RSS