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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS