《TAIPEI TIMES》Taiwanese fishers’ rights not affected by name change

By Peng Wan-hsin and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Taiwanese fishers’ operations in the East China Sea are still protected under a Taiwan-Japan agreement and remain the same, despite an administrative name change to some islands, the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association’s office in Taipei said yesterday.

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The Ishigaki Municipal Assembly on Monday last week passed a bill to change the administrative name of the Diaoyutai Islands （釣魚台） — known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan — from “Tonoshiro” to “Tonoshiro Senkaku.”

The islands are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea claimed by Taiwan, Japan and China.

The rights of Taiwanese fishers are not affected by the Ishigaki council’s name change, association’s spokeswoman Takano Hanae said, describing media reports that their fishing rights have been affected as misleading.

Taiwanese vessels are still entitled to the fishing rights in waters listed in the 2013 Taiwan-Japan Fisheries Agreement, Hanae said, adding that Japan does not want to make any unilateral changes to the “status quo.”

The association hopes to continue deepening Japan-Taiwan cooperation based on the existing platforms, Hanae said, as Taiwan is an important friend of Japan.

In related news, Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Chairman Johnny Chiang （江啟臣） yesterday morning canceled a planned afternoon visit to Yilan County to support efforts to reassert Taiwan’s sovereignty over the Diaoyutais, citing a conflict of schedule.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES