Philippines admits to shooting at Taiwan boat
Agence France-Presse
12:52 pm | Friday, May 10th, 2013
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines admitted Friday that its coast guard fired at a Taiwanese fishing boat in an incident that
authorities in Taipei said left a crewman dead and triggered widespread outrage on the island.
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou demanded that the Philippines apologize for Thursday’s shooting, which the Taiwanese government said killed a 65-year-old fisherman and badly damaged the vessel.
But Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commander Armand Balilo said the incident took place in Philippine waters and the Filipino personnel had been properly carrying out their duties to stop illegal fishing.
“If somebody died, they deserve our sympathy but not an apology,” Balilo told reporters.
Balilo said the incident happened just north of the main Philippine island of Luzon in the Balintang channel, which is part of the
Philippines’ territory and not claimed by any other country or Taiwan.
“This is part of Philippine waters,” he said.
Balilo said the 30-meter (100-foot) coast guard vessel initially saw two fishing vessels and tried to approach them. He said the coastguard crew fired at the smaller of the two vessels after it tried to ram the Filipino boat.
“They fired at the machinery to disable it. They were able to disable the vessel although they were not aware at the time that somebody had been hit,” he said.
Balilo said the coast guard quickly left the area after it saw a third vessel, “a big white ship”, come into view.
“Our people felt threatened so they left the area,” he said.
In Taipei, Ma insisted the Philippine side was at fault.
“We demand the Philippines investigate and clarify the truth, to apologize, apprehend the killer and compensate,” he told reporters.
Taiwanese Foreign Minister David Lin also said he was “very angry”.
The incident dominated Taiwanese media, which strongly condemned the Filipinos and carried reports from the boat’s captain insisting he did not cross over into Philippine waters.
“Barbaric Philippine vessel fired at our fishing boat, seasoned fisherman shot dead,” read the headline of a front-page story in the Taipei-based China Times newspaper.
Hung Yu-chih, the captain of the boat who is also the dead man’s son, told the China Times that Philippine gunmen fired several shots at them.
He said one of the shots hit the fuel tank of the vessel, which had only four people on board.
Two Taiwanese fishing boats came to Hung’s rescue after he called for help, and towed the boat back to a port in southern Taiwan.
In 2006, a Taiwanese fishing boat skipper was shot dead off the northern Philippines. Taipei protested then to the Philippines over what it said was the improper use of weapons.
Taiwan has ruled itself since 1949, but China still considers the island part of its territory. The Philippines, like most countries, officially recognizes China over Taiwan but maintains trade ties with the island.
The incident comes at a time of heightened tensions around the region over rival claims to the nearby South China Sea.
China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have competing claims to parts of the sea.
China’s increasingly aggressive tactics to assert its authority over the waters in recent years have raised alarm among the rival claimants. China said on Tuesday it had sent one of its largest fishing fleets into the sea.
Originally posted: 12:52 pm | Friday, May 10th, 2013
Philippines admits to shooting at Taiwan boat | Inquirer Global Nation
It's regrettable that someone died. Taiwan should tell her people not to poach in Philippine waters...and tell them not to ram our CG ships.
1. Taiwan tried to hide the Batanes province from their map.
2. Instead of saying they were shot at by a 30meter CG vessel, they were attacked by a military warship.
3. They've said that it happens in 164miles in southernmost part of their country but not inside Philippine waters.
This is another classic example of how Chinese falsely portray themselves as victims.
as Taiwan has it all to kill you simultaneously and China would be a overkill. Please accept your wrong doings and live in peace with your neighbors. BTW, both Taiwan and Philippines are very beautiful countries. Recently visited both 
