KMT Chairwoman Hung’s Statement on Japan’s Seizure of Taiwan Fishing Boat on High Seas

 KMT Chairwoman Hung’s Statement on Japan’s Seizure of Taiwan Fishing Boat on High Seas

Source: KMT News

April 28, 2016

A Japanese coast guard cutter on April 25 illegally seized a Taiwan fishing vessel on the high seas and demanded that the owner of the boat pay a bond of approximately US $54,000 so as to secure the release of the fishing boat and crew, or else face a fine nearly five times greater.

 During a regular KMT Central Standing Committee meeting yesterday, KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) stated that she could never accept Japan’s unlawful seizure of the Taiwan fishing vessel based on its claim that “Okinotori Reef is an ‘island’ with a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).”

 Hung issued a three-point statement as follows:

 1. The Government’s competent agencies should defend the rights and interests of our fishermen and start negotiations regarding fishing rights in related waters as soon as possible. We always insist on “making great strikes on our fishing rights without conceding our sovereignty.”   

 2. The Coast Guard and the Council of Agriculture should strengthen measures to protect our fishing vessels’ operations on the high seas off Okinotori Reef.

 3. The owner’s decision to post a bond did not mean that the government of the Republic of China recognized Japan’s claim of an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) surrounding Okinotori Reef. The Foreign Ministry should continue to make solemn representations to Japan on behalf of the government.

 Hung stressed that based on the DPP’s recent remarks and stances, on imports of US pork containing ractopamine residue and Japan’s unlawful seizure of a Taiwan fishing vessel on the high seas, on the part of President-elect Tasi Ing-wen and Minister-designate of the Council of Agriculture, the incoming DPP government appeared to be poised to “oppose everything having to do with Mainland China, while groveling before everything having to do with Japan and the US” as widely believed. Hung added that should this turn out to be the case, it would not bode well for the nation’s future. 

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