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Ma calls for U.S. to remain neutral on Diaoyutais dispute

ROC Central News Agency

2012/09/25 15:19:19

Taipei, Sept. 25 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou hopes that the United States will remain neutral on the sovereignty dispute over the Diaoyutai Islands in the East China Sea because such a stance will be more helpful to efforts to resolve the row.

Ma brought up the issue during a meeting at the Presidential Office Tuesday with Atul Keshap, United States senior official for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, as dozens of Taiwanese fishing boats were sailing in waters near the Diaoyutais to assert Taiwan's sovereignty over the archipelago.

The United States has been neutral on the issue over the past 40 years, and Ma told Keshap he hoped such a stance would be maintained.

He noted that Taiwan has been urging the parties concerned to settle the territorial dispute through peaceful means, and that his East China Sea Peaceful Initiative proposed on Aug. 5 was based on that principle.

The president reiterated the initiative's main appeals, which consist of "defending sovereignty and fishing rights, handling disputes peacefully, and jointly developing resources."

Waters around the Diaoyutai Islands, located around 100 nautical miles northeast of Taiwan, have been a traditional fishing ground for Taiwanese fishermen for over 100 years.

They are also claimed by China, which calls the island chain the Diaoyu Islands, and Japan, which calls them the Senkakus.

Japan has held control over the island group since 1972 when Washington returned it to Tokyo as part of its withdrawal from Okinawa.

Meanwhile, Ma's spokesman, Fan Chiang Tai-chi, said the president has been paying close attention to the latest "Protecting Diaoyutais" campaign launched by local fishermen spontaneously.

Ma supports the campaign, in which more than 70 fishing boats sailed to waters off the disputed island group earlier in the day to assert Taiwan's sovereignty there, Fan Chiang said.

The president also praised the Coast Guard Administration for its deployment on the disputed waters to protect the protesting fishermen, he added.

(By Kelven Huang and Elizabeth Hsu)
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