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Taiwan-Japan still discussing preparatory meeting for fishery talks

ROC Central News Agency

2013/04/01 17:10:41

Taipei, April 1 (CNA) Taiwan and Japan are negotiating the details of their next preparatory meeting for a new round of bilateral talks on fishing rights in overlapping territorial waters in the East China Sea, a Taiwanese official said Monday.

"The two sides are still discussing the date and place of the preparatory meeting," Calvin Ho, deputy spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told CNA. "Taiwan and Japan both wish to hold the meeting as soon as possible."

After the second preparatory meeting March 13 in Tokyo, Taiwan's Foreign Minister David Lin said he hoped the next meeting would take place in late March or early April.

"That is still the goal of both sides," Ho said, but he declined to elaborate on the ongoing negotiations.

An initial preparatory meeting took place in Tokyo Nov. 30, 2012, but little progress was made. No major breakthrough was made during the second meeting, either.

Taiwan and Japan have held 16 formal rounds of talks on fishing rights in their overlapping territories since 1996, the most recent of which were conducted in 2009.

No new talks have been held since then due to differences on how to resolve the fishery disputes that mostly involve waters around the disputed Diaoyutai Islands in the East China Sea.

The two countries are hoping that a series of substantive preparatory meetings will help iron out some of the differences and improve the chances of success of a 17th round of talks.

The Diaoyutais lie about 100 nautical miles northeast of Taiwan. They have been under Japan's administrative control since 1972, but are also claimed by Taiwan and China.

Taiwanese fishermen consider the waters around the islands to be their traditional fishing grounds, but they are routinely chased away from the area by Japanese authorities when they venture too close to what Japan sees as its territorial waters.

(By Elaine Hou)