Taipei, Oct. 22 (CNA) Premier Wu Den-yih said Friday that the Executive Yuan will respect a legislative resolution for a visit by legislators to the disputed Tiaoyutai Islands next month that could add a new twist to an already-tense controversy over the islets.
The internal administration committee of the Legislative Yuan passed a resolution Thursday to launch an inspection visit Nov. 4 to the Tiaoyutais, which lie about 100 nautical miles off Taiwan's northeastern tip in the East China Sea. The islands are controlled by Japan and also claimed by China and Taiwan. They are known as the Diaoyutais in China and as the Senkaku Islands in Japan.
Responding to a question in a legislative session the previous day, Wu said the Executive Yuan will respect the decision. However, he added, given the complexity of the issue, the visit should be confined to waters within the "temporary enforcement line," as suggested by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng.
As the claimed exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Taiwan and Japan overlap near the islands, Taiwan established the temporary enforcement line for the EEZ in 2003 in order to provide safe fishing grounds for Taiwanese fishermen and gain an area of maritime jurisdiction.
The planned visit comes amidst a diplomatic row between China and Japan sparked by Japan's arrest of a Chinese fishing boat skipper after his trawler collided with two Japanese coast guard vessels in the area Sept. 7.
Wu reiterated that Taiwan claims full sovereignty over the islands, but has no intention of becoming embroiled in the issue, which could affect its overall relations with Japan and the United States.
He said Taiwan does not recognize Japan's administrative jurisdiction over the islands and that the government considers them to be under the administrative jurisdiction of Toucheng Township in Yilan County, although he conceded that in fact, the islands are indeed controlled by Japan.
He was responding to a local media report that Foreign Minister Timothy C.T. Yang said in a legislative session of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Oct. 14 that Japan has administrative jurisdiction of the Tiaoyutais, which was handed over by the U.S. to Japan in 1972.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) responded to the report in a press release Thursday, saying that the ministry filed a protest after the U.S. handed the administrative jurisdiction of the archipelago to Japan and that its position has remained consistent over the years. (By Chris Wang) ENDITEM/J