The skipper of a Taiwanese sport fishing vessel that was detained in Japan for allegedly trespassing into Japanese waters in the middle of this month returned home late on Friday.
Captain Wang Wei-hsin (王維新) was the last person to be released in the incident after being detained on Ishigaki Island since Sept. 13 while Japanese authorities investigated the incident.
Wang insisted he did not enter Japanese waters.
“Even if I did cross over, how could Japan ram my boat? There were 10 people on board, were they going to kill us all?” he told reporters when he arrived at the airport.
‘INCOMPETENT’
Wang said Tokyo demanded that he sign a statement saying his boat was hit by Taiwanese Coast Guard Administration (CGA) ships before agreeing to release him. He accused the government of being incompetent and failing to take an active role in dealing with Japanese authorities.
Staffers at Taiwan’s representative office in Naha, Okinawa, said Wang was released around noon on Friday after the office paid the ¥300,000 (US$3,300) fine issued by an Ishigaki court. Wang then traveled from Ishigaki to Naha, where he boarded a China Airlines flight to Taiwan.
In the incident on Sept. 13, the sport fishing boat, registered in Tamsui (淡水), Taipei County, was intercepted by Japanese Maritime Safety Agency vessels, saying it was operating illegally in Japanese waters southwest of Ishigaki — about 200km east of Suao.
Taiwan’s CGA immediately sent a vessel to the site, followed later by another three, and four CGA officers boarded the fishing boat to help settle the matter.
STANDOFF
Despite its efforts, the CGA said the boat, the skipper, a crewman, the nine recreational fishermen on board and four CGA officers were taken to Ishigaki by the Japanese maritime authorities after a standoff of more than 10 hours.
After negotiations, Japan released the anglers and the CGA officers on Sept. 14, but insisted on holding Wang, the crew member and the vessel on Ishigaki for further investigation. The crew member was released last Saturday and the sport fishing vessel was towed back to Suao by its owner the same day.
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