The government has been holding cross-ministerial meetings to work out measures to protect Taiwan’s fishing fleet from piracy in the Indian Ocean, the ROC Ministry of Foreign Affairs said July 12.
Sending navy vessels to escort fishing boats is one possibility considered in meetings involving MOFA, the Ministry of National Defense, Coast Guard Administration and Council of Agriculture’s Fisheries Agency, MOFA said.
“We have also contacted the U.S. government and NATO headquarters, providing information on hijacked boats and crews, and asking that they help ensure the safety of Taiwanese fishing vessels in the region,” Samuel Chen, director-general of MOFA’s Department of African Affairs, said.
In related news, Chen noted that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell in late June expressed condolences to the family of Taiwanese skipper Wu Lai-yu, who was killed in a North Atlantic Treaty Organization anti-piracy mission conducted by guided missile frigate USS Stephen W. Groves off the coast of Somalia May 10.
Wu had been a captive of Somali pirates since his boat, the Jih-chun Tsai 68, was seized in March 2010.
According to Chen, the U.S. investigative report on Wu’s death will be completed mid-July and delivered to MOFA through the American Institute in Taiwan. “We will take suitable action after reviewing the report to look after the interests of Wu’s family,” Chen said.
Chen also reported that the Taiwanese captain, 13 mainland Chinese and 12 Vietnamese crewmembers from another vessel, Hsiuh Fu No. 1, a Kaohsiung-based longliner captured by Somali pirates last December off Madagascar, are safe. Ransom negotiations are in progress, he added. (THN)
Write to Grace Kuo at morningk@mail.gio.gov.tw