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Coast guard lauded for unyielding stance during Diaoyutais protest

ROC Central News Agency

2012/09/25 22:47:22

Taipei, Sept. 25 (CNA) Taiwan must be tough in defending its sovereignty, a ruling Kuomintang (KMT) lawmaker said Tuesday, applauding a coast guard flotilla for its unwavering protection of Taiwanese fishing boats during a protest in the waters off a disputed island chain in the East China Sea.

"Regional peace cannot be achieved at the expense of Taiwanese people," Legislator Lin Yu-fang said, who is known for his hawkish stance on the issue of Taiwan's sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Islands, which are also claimed by China and Japan.

Taiwanese people can no longer endure to watch Japan nationalizing the Diaoyutais and sending policemen to land on the archipelago, he said.

"If Japanese ships had fired shots (during the protest), we should have fired back," he said.

Twelve Coast Guard Administration ships had a standoff with their Japanese counterparts at one point earlier in the day while protecting a group of 75 Taiwanese fishing boats that were on a protest to assert Taiwan's sovereignty over the islands and their right to operate in their traditional fishing ground.

During the standoff, the two sides used water cannons on each other.

Japan mobilized 21 ships, with the largest weighing 6,000 tons, according to the administration.

The entire country should applaud the coast guard flotilla for its formation of an unyielding front against the Japanese vessels' provocative actions, KMT Legislator Chiu Wen-yen said.

Meanwhile, opposition Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim said she hoped the two countries can resolve the dispute with wisdom.

The two sides should go back to the negotiating table for talks on fishing rights, she said.

According to report released by NHK in Tokyo Tuesday, the Japanese government lodged a protest with the Republic of China government through the Interchange Association, Japan's de facto embassy in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties, saying that under international law, state-owned boats should not aim water cannons at vessels owned by other countries.

The report said the Japanese government set up a crisis handling center at the residence of the prime minister earlier in the day to deal with the protest.

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

(By Johnson Sun, Liu Chien-pan, Tsao Heng and Elizabeth Hsu)
enditem/npw