ID :
10198
Tue, 06/17/2008 - 13:18
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/10198
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TAIWAN DIVIDED ON WORSENING ROW WITH JAPAN OVER DISPUTED ISLETS
TAIPEI, June 17 (Kyodo) - Taiwan's top representative to Japan slammed Monday his own government's handling of a diplomatic row with Tokyo as their bilateral ties appeared to further unravel and Taipei planned to send a warship to disputed waters following a ship collision.
''We need to carefully calculate diplomacy at every turn and not be impulsive,'' said Koh Se-kai, Taiwan's de facto ambassador to Japan, referring to the island's worsening dispute with Japan.
Koh made the comment at a press conference in Taipei after the island's Foreign Ministry recalled him as a protest against Japan over the collision last week between a Japan Coast Guard vessel and a Taiwanese fishing boat in disputed waters.
Recalling Koh was one of a few acts of protest by Taipei as its relations with Tokyo deteriorate after the collision.
The Japanese vessel Koshiki chased and collided last Tuesday with the Taiwanese fishing boat ''Lienhe,'' aboard which were 16 people, some 9 kilometers south of a chain of Japanese-administered islets in the East China Sea known in Japan as the Senkaku Islands, in Taiwan as Tiaoyutai and in China as Diaoyu.
All three governments lay claim to the islets and their surrounding waters, which are rich in fishery resources and, potentially, natural gas.
The Lienhe quickly sank after the run-in.
The Koshiki saved all aboard.
Japanese authorities detained Lienhe Captain Ho Hung-yi for three days for questioning, prompting Taipei to lodge protests with Tokyo.
Japan has since expressed ''regret'' and offered to pay reparations to Ho for his sunken vessel, while a Japanese investigation into the collision found both Ho and the Coast Guard vessel captain at fault.
But Taiwan appeared divided in its response to conciliatory gestures by Japan as Koh suggested Tokyo had met Taipei's requests and the island's Defense Ministry vowed to dispatch a warship to the islets.
''Japan has already met our first two requests -- to release the Taiwanese captain and apologize -- while the third request for reparations is being processed right now,'' Koh said.
He rejected Foreign Minister Francisco Ou's comment that Japan's expression of regret fell short of an apology.
Backed by Taiwan's opposition Democratic Progressive Party, Koh has veered from the hard line toward Japan of his superiors and lawmakers of the ruling Nationalist Party, which has successfully lobbied the island's military to dispatch a warship to reassert Taiwanese sovereignty over the contested islets.
Carrying KMT lawmakers and press, the warship is reportedly scheduled to depart for the islets Wednesday.
''This would be for survey maneuvers, so we can definitely send a vessel,'' Defense Minister Chen Chao-min told reporters.
Further derailing bilateral ties were a fleet of Taiwanese ships that steamed full tilt Monday toward the islets to protest the incident.
Accompanied by nine patrol vessels, a Taiwanese fishing boat entered what Tokyo said were its territorial waters in a bid to land on one of the islets.
Local TV news footage showed a U.S.-made Taiwanese Cobra attack helicopter escorting the fleet.
Japan Coast Guard vessels reportedly blocked the protest boat from the island landing, eventually driving it back by spraying it with water cannons.
Taiwanese Premier Liu Chao-shiuan told lawmakers last week that he would not rule out war with Japan over the islets, while the island's Foreign Ministry dissolved a special committee for managing ties with Japan.
Established in 2005, the ministry's Committee on Japanese Affairs was behind a recent strengthening of bilateral relations, but is now apparently deemed superfluous as those ties appear to be nose-diving.
Japan, for its part, has insisted the collision occurred in its maritime territory and has lodged an official protest with Taipei for Monday's protest voyage.
Taiwan's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh declined to comment on Tokyo's complaints, citing an ongoing investigation by Taiwan into last week's collision.
''But the Tiaoyutai are the territory of the Republic of China -- that won't change,'' she said, referring to Taiwan's official title.
''We need to carefully calculate diplomacy at every turn and not be impulsive,'' said Koh Se-kai, Taiwan's de facto ambassador to Japan, referring to the island's worsening dispute with Japan.
Koh made the comment at a press conference in Taipei after the island's Foreign Ministry recalled him as a protest against Japan over the collision last week between a Japan Coast Guard vessel and a Taiwanese fishing boat in disputed waters.
Recalling Koh was one of a few acts of protest by Taipei as its relations with Tokyo deteriorate after the collision.
The Japanese vessel Koshiki chased and collided last Tuesday with the Taiwanese fishing boat ''Lienhe,'' aboard which were 16 people, some 9 kilometers south of a chain of Japanese-administered islets in the East China Sea known in Japan as the Senkaku Islands, in Taiwan as Tiaoyutai and in China as Diaoyu.
All three governments lay claim to the islets and their surrounding waters, which are rich in fishery resources and, potentially, natural gas.
The Lienhe quickly sank after the run-in.
The Koshiki saved all aboard.
Japanese authorities detained Lienhe Captain Ho Hung-yi for three days for questioning, prompting Taipei to lodge protests with Tokyo.
Japan has since expressed ''regret'' and offered to pay reparations to Ho for his sunken vessel, while a Japanese investigation into the collision found both Ho and the Coast Guard vessel captain at fault.
But Taiwan appeared divided in its response to conciliatory gestures by Japan as Koh suggested Tokyo had met Taipei's requests and the island's Defense Ministry vowed to dispatch a warship to the islets.
''Japan has already met our first two requests -- to release the Taiwanese captain and apologize -- while the third request for reparations is being processed right now,'' Koh said.
He rejected Foreign Minister Francisco Ou's comment that Japan's expression of regret fell short of an apology.
Backed by Taiwan's opposition Democratic Progressive Party, Koh has veered from the hard line toward Japan of his superiors and lawmakers of the ruling Nationalist Party, which has successfully lobbied the island's military to dispatch a warship to reassert Taiwanese sovereignty over the contested islets.
Carrying KMT lawmakers and press, the warship is reportedly scheduled to depart for the islets Wednesday.
''This would be for survey maneuvers, so we can definitely send a vessel,'' Defense Minister Chen Chao-min told reporters.
Further derailing bilateral ties were a fleet of Taiwanese ships that steamed full tilt Monday toward the islets to protest the incident.
Accompanied by nine patrol vessels, a Taiwanese fishing boat entered what Tokyo said were its territorial waters in a bid to land on one of the islets.
Local TV news footage showed a U.S.-made Taiwanese Cobra attack helicopter escorting the fleet.
Japan Coast Guard vessels reportedly blocked the protest boat from the island landing, eventually driving it back by spraying it with water cannons.
Taiwanese Premier Liu Chao-shiuan told lawmakers last week that he would not rule out war with Japan over the islets, while the island's Foreign Ministry dissolved a special committee for managing ties with Japan.
Established in 2005, the ministry's Committee on Japanese Affairs was behind a recent strengthening of bilateral relations, but is now apparently deemed superfluous as those ties appear to be nose-diving.
Japan, for its part, has insisted the collision occurred in its maritime territory and has lodged an official protest with Taipei for Monday's protest voyage.
Taiwan's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh declined to comment on Tokyo's complaints, citing an ongoing investigation by Taiwan into last week's collision.
''But the Tiaoyutai are the territory of the Republic of China -- that won't change,'' she said, referring to Taiwan's official title.
