Premier Hsieh, MOFA urge fishermen to behave at rally

Hsieh made the call on the sidelines of an activity organized by the National Youth Commission to drum up support for an upcoming national youth conference.

The Self-Help Fishing Rights Protection Association in Ilan County has been soliciting support from fishermen across the island to stage a demonstration at the Taipei office of the Japanese Interchange Association (JIA) today.

The fishermen will protest Japanese coast guard patrols frequently chasing of Taiwan fishing boats away from waters off the disputed Tiaoyutai Islands.

JIA is a quasi-official body authorized by the Japanese government to handle exchanges with Taiwan in the absence of formal diplomatic ties.

The protesters will also file a petition to Hsieh’s Cabinet for assistance to safeguard their livelihood.

Top officials of the Council of Agriculture, including Chairman Lee Chin-lung, were dispatched to talk with the angry fishermen.

Please see MOFA on page

Just on Saturday, a Coast Guard Administration (CGA) patrol ship rushed to protect two Taiwan fishing boats near the Tiaoyutai Islands after they reported being shadowed by two patrol vessels from Japan’s Maritime Safety Agency.

The CGA contacted both the MOFA and the Ministry of National Defense about the standoff with the MSA ship of Japan to “prepare for the worst.”

Hsieh said the government fully respects local fishermen’s right to protest. Nevertheless, he reminded those planning to protest to abide by the law in doing so.

“If any irrational or illegal actions erupt in the protest, these will shift the focus and hamper settlement of disputes,” Hsieh said.

Touching on a preparatory meeting with Japan to be held in Tokyo tomorrow, Hsieh said the government will not make public at the moment its bottom line in the negotiations regarding a resolution to the longstanding fishery dispute.

“We cannot afford to reveal our bottom line right now. Otherwise, our leverage could be affected when a formal round of bilateral fishery talks takes place later this month,” Hsieh said.

He added that the government will definitely do its utmost to protect local fishermen’s rights and interests in the upcoming consultations.

MOFA officials also stressed that “peace and rationality” should be the principles for the fishermen when they stage protests.

At the heart of Taiwan-Japan fishery disputes is their conflicting claim over the Taioyutais, a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea located some 200 nautical miles northeast of Taiwan proper. Japan often fines ship owners and impounds Taiwan fishing vessels that enter waters close to the Tiaoyutais.

A 15th round of Taiwan Japan fishery talks will formally take place July 29 in Tokyo.

The previous 14 rounds of Taiwan-Japan fishery talks did not make significant headway because Taiwan refused to forsake its sovereignty claim to the Tiaoyutais, which Japan has held since 1972.

Lawmaker William Lai of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) stressed again that Taiwan should adopt a pragmatic manner in dealing with fishery disputes with Japan by concentrating on settling issues regarding only fishing rights in the overlapping economic waters and shelving the Tiaoyutais sovereignty issue.

This approach will help bring forth a concrete result about the disputes between Taiwan and Japan, he said.

But lawmaker Chen Chih-bing of the opposition People First Party said the government must take a tough stand with Japan if it wants to get substantive results from the fishery talks.

He pointed out that Japanese warships entering the 60-mile area from Taiwan coast to pose a threat to both national defense and sovereignty.

The government must not persistently appease to Japan while taking a tough stand toward China, Chen added.

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