Japan denies trying to ram Taiwanese activist vessel

By Martin Williams

TAIPEI, May 26, 2010 Kyodo

Activists on a Taiwanese fishing boat attempting to land late Tuesday on the disputed Senkaku islands accused the Japan Coast Guard of attempting to ram their vessel, but the Japanese government said Wednesday the patrol boat kept a safe distance at all times.

Huang Hsi-lin, secretary general of the Chinese Diaoyutai Defense Association, a Taiwan-based activist group that claims to represent fishermen prevented from fishing in the area, told Kyodo News that the fishing vessel Chuanchiafu came close to being rammed three times and that the coast guard attempted to board their vessel twice.

He said the patrol boat came ''within one to two meters'' of the activist vessel.

Japan's Interchange Association, which is responsible for relations with Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties, issued a press release in Taipei on Wednesday denying any attempt to ram or board the fishing boat, ''not even once.''

It added the Chuanchiafu entered Japanese territorial waters and was shadowed before leaving the area, but that the coast guard never came within 50 meters of the activists.

The Taiwanese authorities said they received no call for assistance from the fishing vessel after Huang claimed that their communications were disregarded.

The Chinese Diaoyutai Defense Association is a marginal activist group that claims to receive money from sympathetic China-based businesspeople after losing most of its support in Taiwan.

The group is in the process of forging a formal alliance with Greater China nationalists in the region and in North America and Europe.

The Senkaku islands are known in Taiwan and China as the Diaoyutai group.

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For background on the Chinese Diaoyutai Defense Association, see this Kyodo News focus piece from May 1.