The captain of a fishing boat on Thursday said that the Fisheries Agency had responded too slowly after his vessel was seized by Philippine authorities.
Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), a fisherman based in Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球) who returned to Taiwan on Wednesday after the incident on Monday, told reporters that the agency failed to immediately notify the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) of the incident.
Instead, Fisheries Agency personnel called his mother and asked whether he had contacted home, Chen said.
Photo courtesy of a member of the public
After learning that he had not, they reportedly told her: “No worries,” Chen said.
“They did make multiple phone calls to us, but they did not tell us what had happened until we asked them directly,” Chen’s daughter said.
The incident occurred shortly after midnight, when the Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) was operating in the southern part of an overlapping fishing zone between Taiwan and the Philippines, but outside the Philippines’ contiguous zone — 24 nautical miles (44.4km) off its coast, Chen said.
Twelve armed men boarded the vessel without warning and dragged Chen and his crew onto the deck “like dogs,” he said.
His crew did not resist, as there was no way to communicate with the officials, but the Philippine authorities “acted like Somalian pirates,” he said, adding that they confiscated his catch and personal belongings — losses he estimated at NT$300,000.
The ship was intercepted 91 nautical miles southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, Fisheries Agency records showed.
Action was only taken after Chen’s family contacted Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸), who urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene, Chen said.
The Philippine side agreed to release the boat, crew and captain on Monday afternoon after the CGA dispatched a ship to negotiate, with Chen returning to Taiwan on Wednesday morning.
Chen said he had experienced a similar incident several years ago, but the CGA had responded quicker at that time.
The Fisheries Agency was slow to respond on Monday, he said, accusing it of not immediately notifying the CGA.
Chen’s family said the actions of Philippine officials contravened the 2015 Agreement Concerning the Facilitation of Cooperation on Law Enforcement in Fisheries Matters signed by Taipei and Manila.
The agreement calls for avoiding the use of violence or unnecessary force, and notifying the other party before law enforcement actions.
The protocols were not followed, the family said.
The Fisheries Agency said in a statement that the Fisheries Monitoring Center attempted to contact Chen immediately.
When there was no response, the agency called his family to ask if they had heard from him and informed them that it had also requested assistance from the ministry, it said.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS