The Taiwanese government pledged to play a more active role in helping local tuna fishing boats and their crews that are currently detained by Philippine authorities for encroaching on the country's territorial waters. The Cabinet convened an inter-ministerial meeting yesterday during which agriculture and foreign affairs officials were asked to speed up talks with their Philippine counterparts on bilateral fishery agreements.
The recent escape of two Taiwanese fishing vessels, the Chin Shun Man and Yu Ying Tsai, has prompted the government to assign priority to the matter that has proceeded at a snail's pace over recent years.
Cabinet spokesman Lin Chia-lung said that agriculture and other officials will soon depart for the Philippines where a Taiwanese tuna fishing boat and 11 crew members remain in custody for alleged illegal fishing. "They will visit the detainees and seek to secure bilateral fishery cooperation accords," Lin told reporters. "Taiwan's representatives there are pressing for a speedy trial and release of the detainees."
Fishing disputes frequently break out between Taiwan and the Philippines whose exclusive economic zones overlap for 180 nautical miles. Hundreds of Taiwanese fishing boasts traditionally operate in waters off the northern Philippines between April and mid-July each year to fish for prime blue-fin tuna.
To protect the safety and interest of Taiwan's fishermen and their boats, the Coast Guard Administration will intensify patrols in the overlapping region to two a week, Lin said. He added that agriculture officials, meanwhile, are helping arrange for family members to visit the detainees.
Starting in May, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Council of Agriculture set up a task force to help resolve fishing disputes between the two sides that have surged since the Philippines enacted a marine resources law in 1998. The legislation, which outlaws any unauthorized fishing in Philippine waters, invalidated a 1991 bilateral memorandum of understanding that allowed innocent passage of maritime lanes.
The escaped fishermen insisted that Typhoon Imbudo, which hit the Northern Philippine island of Luzon last week, made the seas there so rough that ropes securing their boats snapped and their vessels consequently were swept out into the open sea.
The absence of formal diplomatic ties, however, is impeding the inking of an agreement. Foreign Minister Eugene Chien admitted that no draft satisfactory to both sides has yet been submitted, although his ministry has held eight rounds of talks with Philippine officials since 1998. Chien denied that Taiwan has been soft, in comparison with China, in approaching the issue. At one point, 10 Taiwanese vessels were detained in the Philippines. Two of them sank last year after their arrest.
But the minister said that 38 Chinese fishermen are being held in custody and dismissed allegations that some Taiwanese fishermen had to seek recourse with Chinese authorities to gain freedom. While eager to help, the government said it would respect the discretion of the Philippine courts.
Lin said the Cabinet task force has offered a monthly subsidy of NT$3,000 to detained fishermen's families and NT$380,000 in interest-free loans to each boat to help finance their legal fees.
Richard Shih, a foreign ministry spokesman, said there was little Taiwan can do to secure the freedom of the detainees. Shih said his Manila-based colleague had visited detainees at the Philippine port of Aparri over the weekend.
Taiwanese fishermen have alleged that Philippine officials rejected negotiations in order to extract large ransoms from captives' families. Some claim it has cost them millions of Taiwan dollars to settle their legal disputes.