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Fisheries agreement
is a positive precedent
By Tsai Zheng-jia ½²¼W®a
After having been delayed for many years, fisheries negotiations between Taiwan
and Japan have finally been concluded and an agreement has been reached.
Japan¡¦s willingness to make concessions was mainly due to cooperation in several
areas.
In terms of timing, the conflict between China and Japan over the Diaoyutai
Islands (³¨³½¥x), which Japan calls the Senkaku Islands, started heating up last
year.
In addition, Taiwanese fishermen and activists working to protect Republic of
China (ROC) sovereignty over the islands have also entered the disputed area.
Of course, Japan does not want to have to deal with both Taiwanese and Chinese
sovereignty claims over the Diaoyutais at the same time. Since it seems unlikely
that tensions between China and Japan will ease in the short term, the only way
to avoid a situation where China and Taiwan would cooperate on the issue was for
Japan to pro-actively bring the fisheries agreement with Taiwan to a conclusion.
From a geographical perspective, the scope of the fisheries dispute between
Taiwan and Japan did not only include traditional Taiwanese fishing grounds, it
also included the waters around the Diaoyutais.
Japan was hoping to take advantage of the talks to create a tacit agreement
between the two countries regarding the waters around the islands. This would
allow Japan to effectively control the area and reduce the risk of conflict with
Taiwan over the disputed territory.
Finally, in terms of human relations, the main Japanese representative during
the negotiations was Koji Ishikawa of the China division at the Japanese foreign
ministry. While serving in the same division in 1999, he was in charge of
planning the first fisheries talks between Taiwan and Japan.
He fully understood the importance of the talks to the relationship between the
two countries and he was also very familiar with the content of the
negotiations.
When he returned to the China division for the recently concluded talks, he was
naturally very familiar with the situation and was able to deal smoothly with
protests from the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and
from fishermen in Okinawa, and push through the talks.
One question that arises is what future political ramifications the fisheries
agreement will have.
First, it means a platform has been established for handling fisheries issues
between Taiwan and Japan.
In the past, the fisheries issue has always constituted the biggest bone of
contention between the two nations. The most important result of this agreement
is that it establishes a fisheries commission to function as a platform for
resolving fisheries disputes and conflicts between the two countries.
The commission can even handle questions concerning the two countries¡¦ fishing
quotas in the Northern Pacific and the Southern Atlantic oceans and thus help
further stabilize Taiwanese-Japanese relations.
Second, it sets a precedent for agreements between the two countries.
In the past, the level of official exchanges between Taiwan and Japan has always
been too low, but following the common understanding reached during these talks,
the two sides will be able to elevate the official level of exchange when
handling procedural talks.
This will facilitate bilateral talks and once the precedent has been set, it
will be helpful for holding procedural talks.
Tsai Zheng-jia is head of the Second Research Division at the Institute of
International Relations at National Chengchi University.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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