President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday lauded the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and the Ministry of National Defense for escorting Taiwanese fishermen to the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) on Tuesday, calling the move a declaration of Taiwan’s sovereignty over the islands.
“Under the escort of coast guard vessels, our fishermen sailed close to the Diaoyutais. Taiwanese fishermen declared to the world that the Diaoyutais are part of the territory of the Republic of China [ROC], and have been occupied by Japan for 117 years,” he said at a luncheon with members of the Combined Logistics Command.
To assert the nation’s sovereignty over the islands, 75 Taiwanese vessels sailed near the Diaoyutais early on Tuesday, escorted by 10 CGA ships. When Japanese patrol boats sprayed the Taiwanese fishing boats with water to drive them away, Taiwanese coast guard vessels retaliated with their own water cannons, resulting in a tense standoff.
Photo: CNA
Given the rough sea conditions, the Taiwanese boats started returning to the fishing port of Nanfangao (南方澳) in Yilan County several hours later, with CGA vessels remaining about 7km from the Diaoyutais to see that all fishing boats left the area safely.
Ma yesterday said the coast guard played a crucial role in safeguarding the safety of Taiwanese fishermen and said he had called CGA head Wang Jinn-wang (王進旺) to convey his gratitude for the agency’s assistance.
“We will not put our military on the front line, but they will be well-prepared to take full control of the situation in the Diaoyutais,” he said.
Ma said the island chain has been the fishing grounds of Taiwanese fishermen for decades and the government fully supports fishermen’s move to protect their right to fish in those waters.
In related news, the CGA dismissed a media report that national security authorities had negotiated beforehand with Japan and China, asking Japan not to be too provocative toward the Taiwanese boats and for China not to send ships to the area.
The negotiation was to “ensure that everything followed the script,” the Chinese-language China Times quoted an unnamed senior official as saying.
Lee Mao-jung (李茂榮), deputy director of the CGA’s Maritime Patrol Directorate-General, who led the CGA flotilla that escorted the protest, said it was impossible to simulate the confrontation, which included several dangerous actions such as the firing of water cannons and the release of smoke.
CGA Deputy Minister Cheng Chang-Hsiung (鄭樟雄) said the agency did inform Japanese authorities of the fishermen’s protest in advance and asked them not to interfere or to judge the situation wrongly.
They were told that “we will have countermeasures to any action they take,” Cheng said.
Additional reporting by CNA
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and