The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said details about Indonesian vessels shooting at Taiwanese fishing boats will have to be clarified before the ministry makes its next move.
Two Taiwanese fishing boats were on their way to Singapore when they were shot at in the Strait of Malacca. Nobody was injured. The ministry confirmed on Tuesday that according to Indonesia’s fisheries ministry and related media reports, the shooting was the doing of Indonesian patrol vessels.
The ministry’s deputy spokesman Andrew Lee said the ministry will decide on the next move once the details of what happened are clarified.
“The foreign ministry has instructed our representative office in Indonesia, asking Indonesia’s Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries to provide evidence that our boats were in their economic waters or that our boats were trying to ram into their vessels," said Lee. "We also ask our representative office to find out why the Indonesian patrol vessels were shooting at our boats. We told them to express our government’s serious concern about this incident. If the Indonesian government cannot give an explanation, we will not rule out the possibility of lodging a formal protest.”
Meanwhile, Premier Chang San-cheng requested that the foreign ministry investigate the case. Chang said the Indonesian authorities should not have used violence even if Taiwan’s side was at fault.
“One possibility is that they could have been pirates attacking the boats. Another possibility is that they could have been patrol vessels," said Chang. "The crew said it is very likely that they were patrol boats. Our foreign ministry is asking Taiwan’s representative office in Indonesia to investigate. Even if our boats did pass through Indonesia’s economic waters, we have permission to do so. So there are a lot of things to clarify. Even if our boats were fishing illegally, it is still not right to use violence against our vessels.”
Foreign ministry deputy spokesperson Lee said Taiwan’s government has been working on protecting the rights of Taiwanese fishermen. Lee said the government will strengthen communication with Indonesia on fisheries related issues in the future.