Taiwan’s representative to the United Kingdom has said that Taiwan’s fishing activities around the world should be described as “hard-working” and “far-reaching” rather than “voracious,” the word used by the Economist weekly.
In a letter published by the magazine in its latest issue, Shen said it is thanks to the diligence of Taiwan’s fishermen that the country is usually ranked as one of the world’s top 10 fishing powers.
“For political reasons, Taiwan cannot become a formal signatory to many international fishing agreements,” he said. However, he went on, “we usually and willingly conclude separate memorandums of understanding that obligate us under regional or global fish quota systems.”
In the letter, Shen pointed out some basic facts about the May 9 fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman by Philippine coast guard personnel.
They include: The event happened in the overlapping exclusive economic zones between Taiwan and the Philippines; the Taiwanese fishing boat was riddled with 59 bullet holes; the Philippine patrol vessel is more than six times the size of the Taiwanese boat in terms of tonnage; and more than 10 automatic rifles were used in the shooting.
All the evidence indicates that “this was an unwarranted and precarious shooting that killed an innocent Taiwanese fisherman, for which the Philippine side is totally responsible,” said Shen.
Shen, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to London, wrote the letter in response to an article in the May 18 issue of the Economist on the row between Taiwan and the Philippines over the shooting.
In the article, the Economist said that Taiwan’s fishing fleet “has a reputation as voracious” before laying out the two countries’ initially conflicting claims over the cause of the incident.
The Central News Agency