Taiwan patrol boats to protect fishermen near disputed Japanese atoll
ROC Central News Agency
2016/04/30 22:20:12
Taipei, April 30 (CNA) Taiwan will send two patrol ships Sunday to international waters near a Japanese-controlled atoll in the Western Pacific to protect Taiwanese fishermen operating in the area.
In response to a directive issued by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), a nearly 2,000-ton Coast Guard Administration vessel and a ship belonging to the Fishery Agency under the Council of Agriculture will depart from the southern city of Kaohsiung for waters near Okinotori atoll to protect Taiwanese fishermen operating in the area.
The deployment of the two patrol boats comes after a Taiwanese fishing boat operating some 150 nautical miles from Okinotori was seized April 25 by the Japanese coast guard.
On Saturday, Premier Simon Chang (張善政) said that the Navy will be on standby to provide further assistance if needed.
The fishing boat, the "Tung Sheng Chi No. 16" (東聖吉16號), was released April 26 after a payment of 6 million Japanese yen (US$54,442) was made as a deposit, pending legal proceedings.
Japan claims a 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone around the tiny atoll, but Taiwan argues that Okinotori is a reef rather than an island -- as Japan defines it -- and therefore is not entitled to anything more than a 500-meter "security zone" around it.
Taiwan has protested at the highest level the detention by the Japanese coast guard, and Ma has asked relevant government agencies to step up protection for the country's fishermen operating in waters near the atoll.
Okinotori is about 860 nautical miles east of Eluanbi, the southernmost point of Taiwan.
(By Liu Chien-pang and Elaine Hou)
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