A Taiwanese fisherman was shot dead yesterday during a confrontation with a Philippine vessel in waters in which the exclusive economic zones claimed by Taiwan and the Philippines overlap, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
While Fisheries Agency Deputy Director-General Tsay Tzu-yaw (蔡日耀) was quoted by the Central News Agency as confirming that the shots fired at the Pingtung-based fishing boat Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28 that killed 65-year-old Hung Shih-cheng (洪石成) came from a Philippine navy ship, the ministry said last night that the Philippine ship had not yet been identified.
The incident occurred at 10am yesterday, when the Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28 — captained by Hung’s son, Hung Yu-chih (洪育智), and with Hung Shih-cheng, his son-in-law, and one Indonesian national as its crewmembers — was operating at around 164 nautical miles (304km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Pingtung County, the ministry said.
Photo: CNA
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said it received a call for aid from the fishing vessel at 1pm yesterday.
Donggang Fishermen’s Association chief executive Lin Han-chou (林漢丑) said Hung Shih-cheng’s family called in to the local fishery radio station to report an attack on their vessel by Philippine naval forces, saying it had been incapacitated.
They told the station that Hung Shih-cheng was severely injured and that they needed a helicopter to take him to hospital immediately, Lin said, adding that his family called in again soon after and said he had died from his injuries.
Photo: Yeh Yung-chien, Taipei Times
The CGA said a 2,000-tonne ship equipped with an automatic cannon and two 50mm machine guns had been dispatched, which arrived at 7pm last night. It was to accompany the Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28 as it waits for a tow back to port today, the CGA added.
Liouciou Fishermen’s Association chief executive Tsai Pao-hsing (蔡寶興) said the incident occurred well within the parameters the Pingtung County Government had set for fishing.
“The fact that our fishermen are being shot at by the Philippines in a temporary law enforcement zone of our designation shows that our fishermen are in danger,” Tsai said.
Photo: Yeh Yung-chien, Taipei Times
Saying there were other Taiwanese fishing vessels that were operating even closer to the Taiwan-Philippine nautical borders, Tsai said the government should immediately notify these ships to be on the alert.
Tsai also called on the government to protest to the Philippine government and sue for damages.
Ministry spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) said last night that the ministry has called Deputy Representative of the Philippines to Taiwan Carlo Aquino to the ministry to express the nation’s strong concern over the matter.
James Chou (周穎華), deputy director-general of the ministry’s Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, has told the Philippine government that it must move quickly to investigate what happened and bring the perpetrators to justice, Kao said.
The ministry also instructed the Taipei Economic and Culture Office in the Philippines to keep in close contact with the Philippine government to stay on top of its investigation into the incident and urge it to handle the case appropriately, she said.
Additional reporting by Huang Chi-hao
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
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 —
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
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary