A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday.
Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines.
Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of his vessel.
Photo: CNA
Chen said he and his four Indonesian crew members were asleep when 12 armed officers from a Philippine government vessel suddenly boarded without prior warning.
He said Philippine law enforcement personnel “acted like Somalian pirates,” confiscating not only his catch, but also personal belongings — losses he estimated at NT$300,000.
Briguera denied Chen’s claims, saying: “There is no truth to that.”
The Taiwanese vessel was “engaged in actual fishing within the territorial sea of the Philippines” and BFAR officers had “acted professionally” during the inspection and apprehension, Briguera said.
“The Philippines is committed to respect[ing] the maritime territory of other countries, so we expect other countries to do the same,” he added.
However, Chen has maintained that his vessel had been operating within the overlapping Taiwan-Philippines exclusive economic zone, but outside the Philippines’ contiguous zone, which extends 12 to 24 nautical miles (22km to 44km) off its coast.
The Fisheries Agency on Friday said it had reviewed navigational records of the Sheng Yu Feng and found that the vessel was operating within the overlapping waters.
The vessel did not enter Philippine territorial seas and hence did not violate the fisheries agreement signed between Taiwan and the Philippines in 2015, it said.
The Sheng Yu Feng and its crew were released without penalties on Monday afternoon after Taiwan lodged a diplomatic protest through official channels, it said.
The agency said that to ensure the safety of Taiwanese fishing vessels, it had asked the Coast Guard Administration to step up patrols in the region.
Meanwhile, Chen and his family have urged the government to investigate the incident, citing provisions in the 2015 agreement that required both sides to avoid using violence or unnecessary force during law enforcement actions.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
A Taiwanese academic yesterday said that Chinese Ambassador to Denmark Wang Xuefeng (王雪峰) disrespected Denmark and Japan when he earlier this year allegedly asked Japan’s embassy to make Taiwan’s representatives leave an event in Copenhagen. The Danish-language Berlingske on Sunday reported the incident in an article with the headline “The emperor’s birthday ended in drama in Copenhagen: More conflict may be on the way between Denmark and China.” It said that on Feb. 26, the Japanese embassy in Denmark held an event for Japanese Emperor Naruhito’s birthday, with about 200 guests in attendance, including representatives from Taiwan. After addressing the Japanese hosts, Wang
RSS