The Taiwanese fishing boat detained by the Philippines on Thursday on suspicion of poaching was caught within that country’s territorial waters, but the reasons behind the intrusion have not yet been determined, government officials said yesterday.
The Sheng Fong No. 12 (昇豐12) was at 21.3o north latitude and 122.2o east longitude, 6.5 nautical miles (12km) southeast of Mavulis Island, called Yami Island by Taiwan, the northernmost island of the Batan Islands, when it was stopped for inspection by a Philippine Coast Guard patrol vessel, officials said.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei by telephone yesterday morning, Representative to the Philippines Gary Lin (林松煥) said the fishing boat was taken in Philippine territorial waters, but it was not fishing there.
Lin said he had talked to Hung Tien-ting (洪添丁), captain of the 36.13-tonne vessel registered in Pingtung County’s Liouciou Township (琉球) on Thursday.
Any foreign fishing vessel that enters Philippine territorial waters without a permit can be fined or persecuted, Lin said, adding that his office is working to have the case settled out of court.
The captain’s son, Hung Wen-kuang (洪文廣), said the Sheng Fong No. 12 entered Philippine waters in an attempt to escape rough seas caused by a typhoon.
“It is unreasonable for the Philippines to detain the vessel and its crew and demand a fine of NT$1.5 million [US$48,760],” Hung Wen-kuang said.
Taipei and Manila have been in talks to clarify details of the incident since Thursday, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Elliot Charng (常以立) told a news conference in Taipei.
Investigations into the poaching allegation are ongoing, Charng said.
“We urge the Philippines to release the vessel and its crew as soon as the investigation is completed,” he said.
Hung Tien-ting, the boat’s Taiwanese chief engineer and four Indonesian crew members are being detained at Basco Harbor on Batan, ministry spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) said.
“They are safe and freedom of movement and communications have not been restricted,” Kao said.
Separately, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Tsang-min (林滄敏) and two others called a news conference at the legislature to urge the government to toughen its negotiating position against the Philippines over the case.
“The Philippines arbitrarily detained the fishing vessel when it was harmlessly passing through its waters due to severe weather conditions,” Lin said.
The government should demand the immediate and unconditional release of the boat and its crew, KMT Legislator Su Ching-chuan (蘇清泉) said.
Some academics say that Batan, where some residents are descendants of people from Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球), which is part of Liouciou Township, is the territory of the Republic of China, Su said.
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 —
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
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS