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Updated Tuesday, June 17, 2008 0:00 am TWN, The China Post news staff



	Koh Se-kai, head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Tokyo, at a press conference at the Ambassador Hotel in Taipei. He claimed yesterday the Japanese already apologized for the sinking of the Lien Ho sports fishing boat off the Tiaoyutais on Tuesday. (CNA) Enlarge Photo

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Koh refuses to report on collision off Tiaoyutais

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Claiming he would rather die than be shamed, Taipei's de facto ambassador in Tokyo Koh Se-kai refused yesterday to attend a Legislative Yuan joint committee meeting where he was expected to grilled on a collision of a Taiwan fishing boat with a Japanese frigate off the Tiaoyutai Islands on Tuesday.

Koh attended a press conference the opposition Democratic Progressive Party held at the Ambassador Hotel instead to tell of the efforts he made to handle what is promising to be a Tiaoyutai crisis.

DPP lawmakers who held the news meeting called it one for "the brave who would rather be killed than shamed." They urged Koh to resign at once.

In the hours after he was informed of the sinking of the Lien Ho sports fishing boat, Koh said, he met seven Japanese government leaders in a row. The ship, with a three-man crew and 13 deep-sea anglers aboard, was rammed by the Japanese frigate Koshiki in what the Japanese claim are their territorial waters of the Senkakus.

All aboard were rescued and taken to Ishigaki Jima. The anglers were released at once. Two crew members were released after six hours of interrogation. Their skipper returned home in Juifang on Friday after a two-day questioning as a defendant.

On Wednesday, Koh went on, he met with former foreign minister Taro Asao and dietmember Takeo Hiranuma. Koh went to the Interchange Association to deliver President Ma Ying-jeou's declaration of a three-point demand on Thursday. "I stressed the Tiaoyutais are part of the Republic of China's territory," he told reporters.

Koh was told on Friday he would be recalled if the Japanese authorities refused to release the skipper. "I informed the Japanese of this decision, and they released Ho Hung-yi, the skipper," he pointed out.

"Then," Koh said, "Francisco Ou, the foreign minister, instructed that I return at once on Saturday. But he told the press I was being recalled."

The Japanese have expressed "regret," Koh said. "In Japanese," he added, "'regret' means 'apology.'"

"They also expressed willingness to make compensation," Koh continued. As a matter of fact, he said, all three demands President Ma made were met.

Ma demanded the release of the skipper, an apology and compensation.

And yet he was victimized, Koh complained.

"I would rather die than be shamed," Koh said, "and I resigned and I refused to go to the legislature to be shamed."

What angered Koh to the extent that he skipped the joint interpellation session was that he was accused of disloyalty for holding permanent residency in Japan.

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