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Government ships to protect fishing boats in South China Sea: Agency

ROC Central News Agency

2016/07/12 21:17:21

Taipei, July 12 (CNA) A senior fisheries official said Tuesday the government cannot accept an international tribunal ruling that Taiping Island in the South China Sea is a rock, and he urged Taiwanese fishermen to continue fishing in waters near the island as the Coast Guard's patrol boats will keep protecting them there.

Huang Hung-yen (黃鴻燕), deputy director general of the Fisheries Agency under the Council of Agriculture, said the territorial waters surrounding Taiping Island, 1600 km southwest of Taiwan, have been in Taiwan's exclusive economic zone for years.

Fishing boats based in such southern Taiwan ports as Donggang in Pingtung County and those in Kaohsiung City have used longline fishing gear to catch tuna, swordfish and shark in that area, he said. "It's an important fishing ground for Taiwan," he added.

"Our fishermen certainly can continue fishing there. The government will protect them," he said.

The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said The Hague court's ruling in favor of the Philippines in its dispute with China will not affect the CGA's patrol missions in waters surrounding Taiwan-controlled islands in the South China Sea.

"The defense and other legal duties on Taiping Island remain the same, and all patrol missions will go on as scheduled," said the CGA in a statement.

The 1,800-ton Wei Hsing, a CGA boat which departed Sunday afternoon from Kaohsiung, has arrived in Taiping Island to conduct resupply and patrol missions there, it said.

The number of personnel stationed on the island remains unchanged, it said, stressing the government's determination to ensure territorial integrity on the southernmost border of the country.

Meanwhile, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said a Lafayette-class Navy frigate that was scheduled to set sail for the South China Sea Thursday will depart a day earlier, leaving on its patrol mission Wednesday.

Informed sources said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is likely to give a pep talk to the crew on board the frigate to underscore the government's determination to maintain sovereignty over Taiping and other islands in South China Sea.

(By Lu Hsin-hui, Yang Shu-min, You Kai-hsiang, Chu Tze-wei and S.C. Chang)
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