Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/01
By: Tai Ya-chen, Tang Pei-chun and Elaine Hou
Taipei, Nov. 1 (CNA) The Taiwan government vowed Tuesday to protect the country’s fishing rights in 
the waters near Japan-controlled Okinotori Atoll and said it will continue to hold dialogue with Japan to address the issue.
Premier Lin Chuan (林全) said the government remained firm on Taiwanese fishermen’s rights to operate in waters near Okinotori and had made that stance clear in its talks Monday with Japan on cooperation in maritime affairs.
The bilateral dialogue on maritime affairs was “just the beginning” and Taiwan is hoping for a resolution to the issue, he told reporters on the sidelines of an international conference in Taipei Tuesday.
His comments followed talks between Taiwan and Japan in Tokyo the previous day, during which Taiwan argued that it had the right to fish in the open sea around the atoll, while the Japanese maintained their claim to an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) that extends 200 nautical miles from the atoll, which lies 1,600 kilometers east of Taiwan. [FULL STORY]
