President Ma Ying-jeou is calling on fisherman to act according to the law. He was speaking on Saturday at exercises of the Coast Guard Administration and Navy.
Ma said that there were many conflicts between fishermen of different countries after he returned to Taiwan from studies at Harvard. Some fishermen were even detained for up to a month. He is glad that Taiwan and the Philippines have finally signed an agreement to deal with their fishing disputes.
The president said two years ago after a Taiwanese fisherman was killed by the Filipino Coast Guard, Taiwan demanded that the Philippines apologize, compensate, punish the murderer and sign a fisheries agreement. They did the first three in three months, but the agreement has been more complicated.
Ma said that his South China Sea Peace Initiative states that sovereignty cannot be shared but fishing rights can be. Now both the East and South China Sea have mechanisms to deal with these issues so there have been fewer disputes.
Ma called on the fishing industry to respect relevant agreements and international law. The government will protect its fisherman but will not protect those who act against the law.