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Updated Wednesday, September 16, 2009 9:26 am TWN, The China Post news staff

The Tiaoyutais: Deja vu again and again

A Danshui sports fishing boat skipper and his crew member were arrested by Japanese maritime safety agents on charges of trespassing into Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) near the disputed Tiaoyutai Islands yesterday morning. They were brought to Ishigaki-jima where they are being questioned. The nine anglers that his Formosa Chieftain No. 2 had aboard were returned to Danshui. The boat is moored at Ishigaki.

It's a repetition of an incident that heightened tensions in relations between Taiwan and Japan right after President Ma Ying-jeou was inaugurated on May 20 last year. A Japanese patrol vessel in hot pursuit last June 10 rammed into a Suao-based sports fishing boat, which sank off the Tiaoyutais, called the Senkaku Islands by the Japanese.

The Republic of China on Taiwan, the People's Republic of China and Japan all claim sovereignty over the Tiaoyutais, eight uninhabited small islets some 120 miles northeast of Keelung.

There was a brief confrontation over waters around the small island group, under whose waters are large oil reserves. It is for the oil resources that all three countries are claiming sovereignty over the barren islets, some of them barely above sea level.

Taiwan's coast guard vessels faced off with Japanese patrol boats this time around. Eighteen Japanese agents and four from the National Coast Guard Administration (NCGA) boarded the Formosa Chieftain to confront each other. In the end, the NCGA personnel backed down and let the Japanese take Wang Wei-hsi, the skipper, and his crew member prisoner. One good thing was that none of the agents were armed. There was no gun battle.

A similar incident will occur and occur again unless a modus vivendi is reached between Taiwan and Japan. The Japanese have an unmanned lighthouse built on Senkaku, the largest of the eight islets. They regularly patrol the waters. Moreover, Japan and China have reached an agreement to make ten miles off the petite archipelago a no-fishing zone under the pretext of marine life protection. The two countries agreed that no fishing of any kind will be allowed in the zone.

The Formosa Chieftain is charged with entering into that 10-mile zone. It sailed away after it sighted the Japanese patrol ship. The Japanese vessel pursued the 49-ton fishing boat and finally overtook it. Our vessels rushed to the scene to help, of course.

So far as the skipper is concerned, he wasn't intruding into the non-fishing zone, on which the government of the Republic of China on Taiwan hasn't agreed. Taipei claims the Tiaoyutais are an integral part of the Republic of China's territory. Anybody in Taiwan is theoretically and legally free to go fishing off the Tiaoyutai islands.

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September 16, 2009 jaapdenha55@

The ICJ has much more important cases lined up than this!
And in the unlikely event that Taiwan and China ever succeed in this kind of appeal, newspaper headlines in my country (Holland) will read:

"Verdict in Beijing/Taipei case of anti-Japanese sentiment in favor of Japan and judged as attempt to stoke Chinese nationalism"

Maar jullie kunnen gerust blijven dromen....

September 17, 2009 ludahai_twn@

Taiwan has no access to the ICJ as it is not a UN member. Besides, Taiwan needs the ICJ to rule on its status far more than on the Diaoyutai islets.

Frankly, fishing boat operators know the situation. They are unnecessarily causing trouble when it should be up to the country's diplomats to press Taiwan's legitimate claims in the islets.

September 19, 2009 jenaito@

The ROC (Taiwan) Navy should start armed naval patrol of Taioyutai islets and begin detaining encroaching Japanese ships. With 75 heavy warships, 20 submarines and 400 navy missile boats, the ROC can easily defend her territory.

September 19, 2009 hold_hand@

ludahai_twn@ wrote:
Taiwan has no access to the ICJ as it is not a UN member. Besides, Taiwan needs the ICJ to rule on its status far more than on the Diaoyutai islets.

Frankly, fishing boat operators know the situation. They are unnecessarily causing trouble when it should be up to the country's diplomats to press Taiwan's legitimate claims in the islets.

Hey there, although Taiwan is not a member of the ICJ because it is not considered a sovereign state (ICJ charter #34), but according to ICJ#93 II, if given the advice of the security council, it could be a member. So you get China's approval, you can take this to court.

September 22, 2009 christowll@

In the Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed by China and Japan in 1972, Deng Xiaoping had agreed to shelve the issue in and was quoted as follows:

"It is true that the two sides maintain different views on this question...It does not matter if this question is shelved for some time, say, ten years. Our generation is not wise enough to find common language on this question. Our next generation will certainly be wiser. They will certainly find a solution acceptable to all."

That "wiser next generation" Deng mentioned definitely does not seem to reside in Taiwan.


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