The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Japan to adopt a “rational” attitude about a Taiwanese protest boat that sailed into waters near the disputed Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) earlier in the day.
“The voyage was a voluntary action by private citizens and should in no way affect Taiwan-Japan fishery talks,” said Su Chii-cherng (蘇啟誠), the deputy director-general of the ministry’s Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
The boat, a fishing vessel chartered from Shenao Port (深澳漁港) in New Taipei City (新北市) and carrying seven crew and activists, set out early yesterday morning for the Diaoyutais, known as the Senkakus in Japan.
Photo: Taiwanese Coast Guard Administration / Reuters
The Diaoyutais lie in the East China Sea, about 120 nautical miles (220km) northeast of Taiwan, and are contested by Taiwan, Japan and China.
The activists are members of the Taipei-based Chinese Association for Protecting the Diaoyutais and said they had intended to enshrine a statute of Matsu, the Chinese goddess of the sea, on the uninhabited chain to protect Taiwanese seafarers and fishermen operating in the region and assert Taiwan’s sovereignty over the islands.
Despite being escorted by four Taiwanese Coast Guard Administration (CGA) vessels, the activists’ attempt to reach the islands was unsuccessful, although they managed to get as close as 16 nautical miles southwest of the islands.
Photo: CNA
Eight Japanese Coast Guard vessels blocked the Taiwanese boat’s progress when it reached 28 nautical miles southwest of the Diaoyutais at 9:40am, using tactics such as zig-zagging, creating wash and discharging black smoke, CGA officials said.
At 10:32am, the Japanese coast guard ships began firing water cannons at the fishing boat, they said. The CGA reacted by returning water cannon fire at the Japanese ships.
In addition, loudspeakers and LED display boards were used to send warning messages telling the Japanese to stop blocking the Taiwanese boat because “the Diaoyutai Islands are part of ROC [Republic of China] territory,” the officials said.
Also during the escort operation, Taiwan warned three Chinese marine surveillance ships that were spotted 20 nautical miles southwest of the Diaoyutais to leave the area, the officials said.
The action was aimed at avoiding the possibility of creating the false impression that Taipei was collaborating with Beijing over the territorial spat, the officials said.
Su yesterday said that Tokyo has expressed its concerns to the ministry over the incident.
“We have in turn reaffirmed our stance on the issue,” Su said.
Insisting that the Diaoyutais are an inherent part of the ROC’s territory, Su said that the waters surrounding the island chain are traditional Taiwanese fishing grounds.
“Our sovereignty over the Diaoyutais and their surrounding waters is indisputable,” Su said.
Su added that all those aboard the ship possessed the proper licenses and had applied to make the voyage in accordance with regulations.
“Our people are allowed to conduct fishing operations in the region,” Su said, adding that the CGA’s deployment of four escort ships was mainly to protect the safety of ROC citizens.
He urged Japan to adopt a “rational and peaceful” attitude in handling the incident.
Asked whether the dispute would hurt planned bilateral fisheries talks, Su said the Japanese had hinted at such a possibility.
“Both sides have been in talks to determine a timeline for a second preparatory meeting ahead of a new round of fishery talks,” Su said, adding that the government does not want the protest to affect negotiations.
“We look forward to the second preparatory meeting being held either late this month or in mid-February as originally scheduled,” Su added.
Taipei and Tokyo have already held 16 rounds of talks on fishing rights in the Diaoyutai waters. A preparatory meeting was held last year to pave the way for a long-stalled 17th round of talks.
The long-simmering row over the island chain came to a head in September last year after the Japanese government bought three of the islets from their private owner.
Chinese patrol ships, utility aircraft and jet fighters have since been spotted around the disputed island cluster on several occasions.
In August last year, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) unveiled an East China Sea peace initiative based on the concept of “sovereignty cannot be shared yet resources can be divided.”
The initiative calls for all parties to refrain from provocation, shelve their differences, maintain dialogue, observe international law and resolve disputes through peaceful means.
Ma also called for all sides to seek consensus on a code of conduct for the East China Sea and to establish a mechanism to explore and develop resources in the region.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS