KMT: Tsai Administration Must Defend National Interests

 KMT: Tsai Administration Must Defend National Interests

 Sources: All Taipei newspapers

May 25, 2016

 Japan has claimed a 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) surrounding the Okinotori atoll, insisting that the atoll was an island. The previous KMT administration did not recognize Okinotori as an island, noting that it was merely a reef, so Japan could not claim an EEZ.

 Tung Chen-yuan (童振源), spokesman of the Executive Yuan (Cabinet), recently stated that the Tsai Ing-wen administration would not take any specific position on the status of Okinotori, adding that the new administration would respect the decision to be made by the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. Tung’s remarks instantly sparked criticism across party lines.

 The KMT blasted the Tsai administration, saying that the latter’s statement was heartbreaking. The KMT believed that the nation’s interests had to be steadfastly and clearly safeguarded and that the government must have a firm position in the face of all disputes.

DPP legislator Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) also stated that Okinotori was definitely a reef, adding that the new government had changed its position too soon without giving any convincing rationale. He went on to say that the Tsai administration had to declare that Okinotori was an atoll, and it should not abandon our fishermen’s interests and rights to operate in the waters surrounding Okinotori reef for the sake of maintaining friendly relations with Japan.

 Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), a legislator of the New Power Party, reiterated his party’s stance that Okinotori did not conform to the definition of an island according to the relevant international law. He noted that the new administration should handle the dispute over the Okinotori reef in order to maximize Taiwan’s interests and options, whether dispatching coastguard cutters to safeguard our fishing operations on the high seas or using diplomatic channels to ensure fishermen’s rights and interests.

 Foreign Minister David Lee (李大維) yesterday stated that the new government had conducted preliminary consultations with Japan on the fishing rights in the waters off Okinotori reef, and both sides agreed to kick off negotiations on oceanic affairs before the end of July. The Foreign Minister pledged that the government would not compromise at the negotiating table, adding that he was optimistic that the nation’s fishermen would enjoy even greater rights to conduct fishing operations in the future as a result of the bilateral talks.

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