Taiwan skipper accuses Japan coast guard of ramming his boat
TAIPEI —
A Taiwanese skipper held in Japan for alleged illegal fishing accused Japan’s coast guard of ramming his boat in disputed waters in the East China sea, reports here said Saturday. Wang Wei-hsin, who returned to Taiwan late Friday after his release on a fine of 300,000 yen, insisted that he did not enter Japanese waters, the reports said.
“Even if I did cross over, how could Japan ram my boat? There were 10 people on board and were they going to kill us all?” he said to the local TVBS news channel.
Wang claimed that Japan demanded he sign a statement saying his boat was hit by Taiwan’s coast guard ships before agreeing to release him, according to the state-run Central News Agency.
Armed Japanese coast guard members boarded Wang’s vessel on Sept 14, forcing their Taiwanese counterparts to intervene on behalf of the skipper, crew and nine tourists.
But the Japanese coast guard personnel confronted two of their counterparts from Taiwan, who were also armed, pushing them out onto the deck of the 49-ton sports fishing boat.
The skipper was arrested for being within Japan’s exclusive economic zone and he and a crew member, along with their boat, were interned on a Japanese island while the tourists on board were returned to Taiwan.
Taipei and Tokyo have held 14 rounds of negotiations on fishing disputes since 1996 without reaching any agreement.
Wire reports
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6 Comments
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presto345
Ramming an unarmed vessel straying into territorial waters of another nation is inexcusable.
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mael
Not inexcusable if the vessal deliberately crossed into someone else's territory and wouldn't shift.
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sharky1
Guess we know who won this dispute...
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yosun
Japan coast guard is at least smart! For long time I didn't hear they detained Russia, China, NK, SK fishing/ tour ships... BINGO! They know taiwanese always treat Japan friendly. Smart Guard~
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USNinJapan2
presto345
Yes it absolutely is, especially if you're the Coast Guard and have the legal authority to enforce the exclusive economic zone. It matters not that the boat was unarmed; if it did not comply with the instructions of the JCG then they had every right to physically force it to comply. 'Ram' is also not the correct word since what the JCG did was 'shoulder' the fishing boat.
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presto345
Huh? Whose exclusive economic zone? These are disputed waters, so you go a little easier. Physically and rhetorically, my friend.
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