Taiwan and the Philippines are expected to hold another meeting early next month to continue negotiating on fishing operations in the overlapping waters of their exclusive economic zones, an official said yesterday.
The second preparatory meeting — to pave the way for fishery talks between the two countries — is set to take place in Taipei, said Benjamin Ho (何登煌), director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
Issues on the agenda are to include establishing regulations on fishing order and defining the areas in which fishermen can operate, Ho said, adding that the meeting would be attended by officials from the two countries’ fishery, foreign affairs and maritime patrol agencies.
“Our goal is to sign a fishery agreement with the Philippines,’ he said. “We will continue to negotiate with the Philippines [on that issue].”
Ho also cited as an example the Taiwan-Japan fishing pact signed in April on fishing rights in disputed waters in the East China Sea. The agreement designates an area in overlapping waters in which fishermen from both sides can operate freely.
A fishery agreement will help prevent a recurrence of the shooting of 65-year-old Taiwanese fisherman Hung Shih-cheng (洪石成) by Philippine Coast Guard personnel on May 9, when his Taiwanese fishing boat was operating in the overlapping exclusive economic zones of the two countries, the ministry said.
Asked about the investigations into the shooting, Ho said that Taiwan and the Philippines have completed their own reports on the incident.
Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) said the reports are expected to be released “soon.”
In an effort to pave the way for bilateral fishery talks, officials from Taiwan and the Philippines held their first preparatory meeting on Friday in Manila, during which the two sides reached consensus on four points, including no use of force or violence in policing their fishing grounds.
Both sides also signed the minutes of Friday’s meeting, which the ministry said makes it an official document that is legally binding. Participants in the meeting agreed to jointly work out a mechanism for cooperating on law enforcement in overlapping waters of the two countries’ exclusive economic zones, the ministry said.
According to the minutes, the proposed mechanism will enable each side to notify the other in the event of fishery incidents and ensure that there is no use of force and violence.
The mechanism will also facilitate notification about incidents involving chases, boarding and inspections of each other’s fishing boats or the arrest and detention of each other’s fishermen.
In the wake of the May 9 incident, Taiwan demanded that the Philippines issue a formal apology, compensate Hung’s family, punish those responsible for his death and begin fishery talks to prevent any similar incidents.
Friday’s meeting was the first consultation on cooperation since the shooting and could be seen as a goodwill response from Manila on Taiwan’s demand for fishery talks.
‘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
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
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
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