Deputy Agriculture Minister James Sha says that tensions between Taiwan and the Philippines must ease before the two sides can sign a fisheries agreement.
Sha was speaking on Thursday. He said that the wording of the fisheries agreement is already complete and is awaiting review in the Philippine presidential office. However, he said that tensions between the two sides remain an obstacle to signing the agreement.
Taiwan and the Philippines have been working towards a fisheries agreement since 2013, when a Philippine coast guard vessel opened fire on a Taiwanese fishing boat. A Taiwanese fisherman was killed.
In May, Philippine authorities detained one Taiwanese fishing boat and intercepted another in the Philippines’ territorial waters. The same area is claimed by both sides as part of their Exclusive Economic Zones.
The director-general of Taiwan’s Fisheries Agency is in the Philippines to learn more about the circumstances around the detention of the Taiwanese fishing boat Der Man Fu No. 3. Philippine authorities claim that only two people were on board the boat and that it was unlikely that they were fishing at the time.