The Maritime Patrol section of the Coast Guard Administration said Sunday that it is fully aware of the location and bearing of Taiwanese fishing boats bound for Taiping Island in the South China Sea. That’s after the fishermen bound for Taiping claimed that they had seen no official vessels on their journey, nor had they been contacted to report their position.
The fishing boats set out from southern Taiwan on July 20 for the Taiwan-administered island in the Spratlys in the South China Sea, some 1,600 kilometers southwest of Taiwan proper. Their mission is to affirm Taiwan’s sovereignty claims in the South China Sea after Taiping was declared under international law to be a rock rather than an island, with no entitlement to an exclusive economic zone. The ruling was part of the Hague tribunal’s verdict two weeks ago in the territorial dispute brought by the Philippines against China.
The Coast Guard Administration said Sunday that it has been tracking the location of the boats bound for Taiping and is ready to grant assistance if required. The Coast Guard also gave a reminder that Taiping is controlled by the military and permission to land on the island would need to be granted by the defense ministry. It said however that all assistance would be extended to the fishing boats in the event of an emergency and that the government’s policy to defend the rights and interests of the country’s fishermen has not changed.