President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) asserted Taiwan’s sovereignty over the Diaoyutai (釣魚台) islands yesterday and called on Tokyo to negotiate fishing disputes and the issue of sovereignty calmly and peacefully. His comments came one week after a Japan Coast Guard vessel collided with a Taiwanese fishing boat that later sank.
“We are not trying to provoke anybody, but the Diaoyutais are part of our territory. Why can we not go there?” he said.
Ma said he hoped the dispute would not affect the friendly relations between the two countries and that he hoped to see Tokyo apologize as the families of the crew wanted the dispute to end peacefully.
PHOTO: CHANG MAO-SHEN, TAIPEI TIMES
Ma made the remarks during a meeting with local reporters at the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon.
Ma said that he would approve the resignation of Representative to Japan Koh Se-kai (�?�) and that he felt sorry that this had to happen.
He also expressed regret over Koh’s refusal to appear for an interpellation session at the legislature, saying it was the duty of a government official.
Ma said he realized that the sovereignty issue was an ongoing dispute between Taipei and Tokyo, but that both should make an effort to resolve the problem peacefully, including negotiating fishing rights and the sovereignty of the Diaoyutais.
“We are an independent sovereign state and we will do our best to protect our territory and sovereignty,” he said.
“We hope Japan will take into account the friendly and cooperative relations between Taipei and Tokyo. We must both take care to preserve such relations,” he said.
When asked whether he wanted to resolve the dispute over the sovereignty of the islands during his four-year term, Ma said that the public should not expect a quick resolution, but negotiating fishing rights was important to prevent similar incidents from happening.
Whether such negotiations would bear fruit depended on the attitude of Tokyo, Ma said, because Taipei could not do it alone.
The president, an avid defender of the nation’s sovereignty over the Diaoyutais when he was younger, has come under fire for failing to reassert sovereignty over the island chain following the June 10 incident.
Ma defended his position yesterday by saying that he was doing a better job in this regard than former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Besides, such disputes were the business of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Government Information Office and the Coast Guard Administration, he said, adding that those agencies would be failing to do their jobs if the president had to “jump to the front line” following an incident like this.
The public should not expect the president to do so, he said.
While reports have claimed that the Presidential Office pressured legislators and the Ministry of National Defense into canceling a planned trip to claim sovereignty over the islands, Ma declined to confirm whether he had called a National Security Council meeting on Monday night and whether any cancelation was related to that meeting.
Ma said that he had first heard about the sinking of the fishing boat when Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) telephoned him on the morning of June 10.
He did not issue an immediate directive, but asked Liu to get a better understanding of the situation because it was a bad idea to “send in the armed forces if a boat sunk.”
Meanwhile, the premier told Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) during a question-and-answer session yesterday morning that Ma had given many instructions to the administration and that he was hoping to leave the door open for diplomatic mediation.
Liu said he made an earlier comment about not ruling out going to war with Japan because the captain of the boat was still being held by Japan at the time, but that the nation had to seek rational dialogue now that the captain had been released.
In another question-and-answer session later in the day, he urged Japan to demonstrate “greater sincerity and goodwill” to resolve the controversy.
He also urged Tokyo to resume negotiations with Taipei regarding fishing rights in the Diaoyutai area.
Meanwhile, Japanese Representative Tadashi Ikeda visited Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) at the legislature yesterday.
Ikeda declined to make any comment when approached by reporters.
But Wang told reporters afterward that Ikeda said both captains of the Taiwanese fishing boat and the Japanese patrol vessel should be held responsible for the incident, but the Japanese captain should shoulder the most responsibility.
Ikeda promised compensation to the owner of the fishing boat, Wang said.
Wang told reporters that Ikeda said Tokyo had demonstrated great sincerity to Taipei by saying that it “regretted” the incident.
“Although Japan said it had shown sincerity [to Taiwan] by using the diplomatic term ‘regret’ [in response to the incident], I told him that many people in Taiwan know that ‘regret’ is not equal to an apology,” he said.
Ikeda promised to pass on Wang’s opinion to Tokyo and see if Tokyo could adjust its comments in response to “Taiwan’s feelings,” Wang said.
Wang said he had also urged Ikeda to express Taiwan’s expectations that negotiations on fishing rights near the Diaoyutais should resume, adding that Ikeda also promised to communicate Wang’s viewpoint on that to Tokyo.
Wang said Ikeda visited him in a bid to seek help from the speaker to peacefully resolve the controversy and prevent further incidents from occurring.
Ikeda said he understood that both Taipei and Tokyo would not give in on the sovereignty issue, but both sides should maintain healthy relations and make a joint effort to maintain peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region, Wang told reporters.
Meanwhile, former DPP chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday urged Ma to handle the dispute with Japan in a responsible and calm manner and cautioned on the dangers of “brinkmanship diplomacy.”
Hsieh, who visited Koh yesterday, said Koh had made an impressive contribution to Taiwan-Japan relations, and also did a good job negotiating with Tokyo on the fishing dispute.
He urged Ma to handle the matter responsibly and calmly and map out a well thought out, long-term strategy, instead of letting government agencies or individuals “set the prairie ablaze.”
The DPP legislative caucus also threw its support behind Koh yesterday, while condemning the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for treating officials promoted by the former DPP government with contempt.
“They [the KMT] began to take aim at officials promoted by the DPP once they became the ruling party. It is ugly,” DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said at a press conference held at the caucus office yesterday morning.
Tsai was referring to the KMT legislative caucus’ continuous complaints about and criticism of Koh during the past few days.
Deputy caucus whip Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) said that Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) should be responsible for briefing the legislature, not Koh.
“If the KMT wanted to condemn Koh, they should have condemned Ou first,” Chiu said.
Another deputy whip, Pan Meng-an (潘孟安), said that KMT lawmakers had good reason for trying to force Koh from his post.
“KMT Legislator Lee Chia-chin [李嘉進] has been vying for Koh’s position. I am afraid that is why Lee has continued his criticism of Koh,” Pan said.
Japan played down the row yesterday.
“We have already agreed [with Taiwan] to handle the issue calmly, without getting excited,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told a news conference.
Tokyo called for calm and said it was “very regrettable” that a protest boat along with nine patrol ships from Taiwan had entered Japanese territorial waters on Monday to protest last week’s sinking of the vessel.
The US State Department on Monday called on Japan and Taiwan to exercise restraint in the dispute.
Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang and AFP
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