Agriculture Minister Lin Tsung-hsien said Wednesday that he will work to protect the safety and basic rights of Taiwanese fishermen in waters close to Okinotori atoll, which belongs to Japan.
He was responding to local media reports that some fishermen were angry at the advice issued by Taiwan’s Fishery Agency that they should avoid fishing in waters near Okinotori in the West Pacific Ocean.
Lin, who took office on Feb. 8 as agriculture minister, said any fishing disputes between Taiwan and Japan in waters close to Okinotori can only be resolved by “diplomatic means.”
“Protecting the safety and basic fishing rights of all Taiwanese fishermen at sea” has been a policy of the Council of Agriculture, Lin said.
The Okinotori issue is not on the agenda of a three-day meeting of a Taiwan-Japan fishing commission, which opened Tuesday in Tokyo.
The commission is dealing only with issues related to disputed waters near the Diaoyutai Islands in the East China Sea, according to Taiwan’s foreign ministry.
While Okinotori undisputedly belongs to Japan, the ministry said, Taiwan and other countries should have the freedom to fish in the surrounding waters since there has been no decision yet by the international authority on whether Okinotori should be defined as an island or an atoll.
The Taiwan government has said it will seek to hold talks with Japan on the fishing rights of Taiwanese fishermen near Okinotori, which is located about 1,600 kilometers east-southeast of Taiwan’s southern tip.
In April 2016, a Taiwanese fishing boat was detained by Japan near Okinotori.
The Central News Agency