Taiwan calls for Japan to negotiate fishing rights after collision

Hong Kong, June 11 Kyodo - Taiwan urged Japan on Tuesday to enter into negotiations over fishing rights after a Taiwanese fishing boat collided with a Japanese patrol vessel earlier in the day off a Japan-administered islet claimed also by Taiwan and China in
the East China Sea.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh called on Japan to ''restart talks as soon as possible on regional fishing rights to solve related disputes.''
Yeh's comments came after the collision involving the Taiwanese fishing boat Lienhe (United) in waters about 9 kilometers south of the main islet of the disputed islands.
The islets are called Senkaku in Japan, Tiaoyutai in Taiwan and Diaoyu in China. The main islet is called Uotsuri in Japanese.
According to Japan's Interchange Association, the country's de facto embassy in Taiwan, the collision occurred around 3:23 a.m.
The fishing boat quickly sank, prompting the patrol vessel to save 16 people on board, the association's Director General Koichi Ito said in a press release.
The collision, Ito said, ''occurred in Japan's maritime territory.'' The crew members were transferred to a hospital on nearby Ishigaki Island, while Taiwanese representatives in Okinawa Prefecture were dispatched to the hospital to assess their injuries, reports said.
Hinting at possible tensions between Japan and Taiwan, Ito said the ''incident should be handled so as to not let it influence the positive relations between Tokyo and Taipei.''
Maritime disputes sometimes flare up between Tokyo and Taipei.
Waters near the Senkaku islets are rich in fishery resources, which attract Taiwanese fishing boats. Japan typically patrols the area to keep out non-Japanese vessels. ==Kyodo