Related News
Water cannon fired at Diaoyu ships
Source: Agencies |
September 26, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Japanese and Taiwan ships shot water cannon at each other yesterday in the latest confrontation over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.
About 40 fishing boats from Taiwan and 12 patrol boats entered waters near the islands in the morning, briefly triggering an exchange of water cannon fire with Japanese coast guard ships.
Coast guard officials said the Taiwan vessels had ignored warnings to leave the area. After shooting water back at the Japanese ships, the Taiwan ships pulled back.
It was Taiwan's first foray into waters around the islands since the Japanese government "purchased" some of them two weeks ago.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Chikao Kawai met at China's Foreign Ministry yesterday to discuss the Diaoyu situation.
After the four-hour meeting, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said both sides exchanged views "frankly and deeply" and agreed to continue discussions.
Zhang said: "Japan must banish illusions, undertake searching reflection and use concrete actions to amend its errors, returning to the consensus and understandings reached between our two countries' leaders."
He called the Japanese government's purchase of the islands "a grave trampling on historical facts and international jurisprudence."
"Given the current situation, there were severe parts," Kawai told the Kyodo News agency. "But I can say we both stated our thinking in a frank way."
While the talks were under way, the State Council, China's Cabinet, released a white paper on the history of the island group, asserting the country's indisputable sovereignty over it and its affiliated islets.
Diaoyu and its affiliated islands are an inseparable part of Chinese territory, it is China's inherent territory in all historical, geographical and legal terms, and China enjoys indisputable sovereignty over them, the white paper says.
Japanese coast guard officials said their ships fired water cannon after the Taiwan fishing boats and government patrol boats entered the waters close to the Diaoyu Islands and ignored warnings to leave.
Japanese patrol boats only fired at fishing vessels, said Hideaki Takase, a coast guard official. "Shooting water cannon at an official vessel is like waging a war against its country," he said.
Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou supports the "protecting Diaoyutai campaign" launched by local fishermen, and offered praise to Taiwan's coast guard for its role in escorting the Taiwan vessels to the island area, his spokesman Fan Chiang Tai-chi said yesterday.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Tokyo requested, through diplomatic channels, that Taiwan stop entering the area near the Diaoyu Islands.
"We will continue to keep our guard up to protect the area," he said. "Japan sticks to our principle that we should resolve the issue while maintaining friendly relations between Japan and Taiwan."
Ships from the Chinese mainland have briefly entered the waters around the islands in recent weeks without being fired on. About 10 vessels are still just off the islands. The fleet size has decreased over the past few days, Japanese officials said.
"Both sides hope to see the escalation in tensions ease up because confrontation does no good to either, but so far we haven't seen any room for compromise," Liang Yunxiang, a Japan expert at Peking University, said.
About 40 fishing boats from Taiwan and 12 patrol boats entered waters near the islands in the morning, briefly triggering an exchange of water cannon fire with Japanese coast guard ships.
Coast guard officials said the Taiwan vessels had ignored warnings to leave the area. After shooting water back at the Japanese ships, the Taiwan ships pulled back.
It was Taiwan's first foray into waters around the islands since the Japanese government "purchased" some of them two weeks ago.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Chikao Kawai met at China's Foreign Ministry yesterday to discuss the Diaoyu situation.
After the four-hour meeting, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said both sides exchanged views "frankly and deeply" and agreed to continue discussions.
Zhang said: "Japan must banish illusions, undertake searching reflection and use concrete actions to amend its errors, returning to the consensus and understandings reached between our two countries' leaders."
He called the Japanese government's purchase of the islands "a grave trampling on historical facts and international jurisprudence."
"Given the current situation, there were severe parts," Kawai told the Kyodo News agency. "But I can say we both stated our thinking in a frank way."
While the talks were under way, the State Council, China's Cabinet, released a white paper on the history of the island group, asserting the country's indisputable sovereignty over it and its affiliated islets.
Diaoyu and its affiliated islands are an inseparable part of Chinese territory, it is China's inherent territory in all historical, geographical and legal terms, and China enjoys indisputable sovereignty over them, the white paper says.
Japanese coast guard officials said their ships fired water cannon after the Taiwan fishing boats and government patrol boats entered the waters close to the Diaoyu Islands and ignored warnings to leave.
Japanese patrol boats only fired at fishing vessels, said Hideaki Takase, a coast guard official. "Shooting water cannon at an official vessel is like waging a war against its country," he said.
Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou supports the "protecting Diaoyutai campaign" launched by local fishermen, and offered praise to Taiwan's coast guard for its role in escorting the Taiwan vessels to the island area, his spokesman Fan Chiang Tai-chi said yesterday.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Tokyo requested, through diplomatic channels, that Taiwan stop entering the area near the Diaoyu Islands.
"We will continue to keep our guard up to protect the area," he said. "Japan sticks to our principle that we should resolve the issue while maintaining friendly relations between Japan and Taiwan."
Ships from the Chinese mainland have briefly entered the waters around the islands in recent weeks without being fired on. About 10 vessels are still just off the islands. The fleet size has decreased over the past few days, Japanese officials said.
"Both sides hope to see the escalation in tensions ease up because confrontation does no good to either, but so far we haven't seen any room for compromise," Liang Yunxiang, a Japan expert at Peking University, said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
