Miscellaneous News
- Thread starter bd popeye
- Start date
Indonesian coast guard vessels fire shots at Taiwanese fishing boats traversing the Straits of Malacca - they probably mistook the boats for Chinese fishing boats due to the Chinese characters on the back of the ship.
Taiwan rejects poaching allegation by Indonesia in shooting incident
2016/03/22 12:57:35
The Sheng Te Tsai is chased by an Indonesian patrol vessel. (From the video shot by the Indonesian vessel)
Taipei, March 22 (CNA) Taiwan on Tuesday rejected an explanation by Indonesian authorities that two Taiwanese fishing boats were shot at in the Strait of Malacca a day earlier because they were poaching and attempting to ram an Indonesian patrol vessel there.
Judging from the speeds of the two fishing boats, as shown in satellite positioning data obtained by Taiwan, it was unlikely that they were engaging in any fishing activities at that time, Fisheries Agency Director-General Tsay Tzu-yaw (蔡日耀) said.
If in fact the two fishing boats were not involved in illegal fishing, the Indonesian patrol vessels violated international regulations by shooting at them, Tsay stressed.
He said Taiwan's representative office in Indonesia will try to gather more information from the Indonesian side, and Taiwan's representative office in Singapore will also talk to the crew members of the two fishing boats after they arrive there.
[Photo courtesy of the Liuchiu Fishermen's Association]
At a press briefing Tuesday morning, Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Andrew Lee said it was still premature for Taiwan to file a formal protest with Indonesia because it remained unclear why official Indonesian vessels acted the way they did.
Lee said firing shots is not a rational international practice, but it is how Indonesia protects its fishing sector. Details about the incident, such as the vessels' exact location and whether they were fishing, needed to be clarified before the ministry can make its next move, he said.
On Monday, the Coast Guard Administration received reports from the "Sheng Te Tsai" (聖德財號) and the "Lien I Hsing No. 116" (連億興116號) -- both registered in Liouciou Township of Pingtung County -- that two Indonesian vessels each fired at least four or five shots at them at 5:48 a.m. that day.
The incident was said to occur at the northern entrance of the Strait of Malacca, just over 100 kilometers from the northeastern coast of Sumatra, when the two Taiwanese boats were on their way to Singapore.
[Photo courtesy of the Liuchiu Fishermen's Association]
The two fishing boats had at least 10 shots fired at them during the incident, but nobody was injured, according to the Taiwanese ships involved.
Susi Pudjiastuti, Indonesia's minister of maritime affairs and fisheries, told CNA late Monday that the two Taiwanese fishing boats were found poaching in Indonesian territorial waters and that they were shot at after they ignored warning shots by Indonesian patrol vessels and instead attempted to ram one of the vessels.
She showed CNA a video lasting 1 minute and 32 seconds that showed an Indonesian patrol vessel trailing closely behind the "Sheng Te Tsai."
The patrol vessel cast a spotlight on the fishing boat many times and signaled it to stop but did not receive any response from the Taiwanese boat, which continued to sail forward.
The video, however, does not contain any images of the Taiwanese boat ramming the Indonesian patrol vessel or it being shot at by the patrol vessel.
Susi said a rope can be seen in the video hanging from the right rear side of the Taiwanese boat, which she said indicated that it was in the middle of a fishing operation at that time. The boat did not fly any national flag, she added.
She said the two boats were being chased within Indonesian territorial waters.
Based on Indonesia's principles, any stateless boats that appear in Indonesian territorial waters will be detained, with their crew arrested, the minister said. The boats will then be sunk after all people have been evacuated, she said.
Taiwan fishing boats fired on in Indonesian waters
The alleged incident occurred just days after Indonesia detained the crew of a Chinese boat suspected of illegally fishing in its waters off the South China Sea, sparking a tense standoff with Beijing.
Taiwan’s fishing agency said two tuna longliners were passing through Indonesia’s waters early Monday when it was believed they were chased and fired at by official vessels.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry has asked its representative in Jakarta to investigate the allegations and establish whether it was an Indonesian government vessel that was involved.
Taiwan’s Premier Chang San-cheng said authorities suspected a pirate ship was involved, but that possibly a government boat was to blame for the violent clash.
“Even if it is Indonesia’s economic zone, our boats can pass by without causing any damage, so there are many things to clarify,” he said Tuesday.
“(Indonesia) should not have used violent means against our boat even if the boat was engaged in illegal fishing … I would like to state that this kind of violent means are unacceptable,” he said.
Taiwan’s fishing agency said one of the boats had more than 10 bullet holes. The 20 crew members aboard the fishing boats were safe and the vessels were en route to Singapore for a damage assessment, the agency added.
Indonesia’s foreign ministry and fisheries ministry said they were looking into the incident, but did not yet have any information.
Indonesia in 2014 launched a tough crackdown on illegal fishing that involves sinking foreign vessels caught fishing without a permit after impounding the boats and removing the crews.
The hard-line policy has stoked tensions with Indonesia’s neighbors and trading partners. Jakarta lodged a furious protest to Beijing on Monday after the Chinese coast guard intervened as Indonesian patrol ships tried to detain a fishing vessel near islands in the South China Sea.
While Indonesia does not have territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea, Jakarta is nervous about Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the region.
The alleged incident occurred just days after Indonesia detained the crew of a Chinese boat suspected of illegally fishing in its waters off the South China Sea, sparking a tense standoff with Beijing.
Taiwan’s fishing agency said two tuna longliners were passing through Indonesia’s waters early Monday when it was believed they were chased and fired at by official vessels.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry has asked its representative in Jakarta to investigate the allegations and establish whether it was an Indonesian government vessel that was involved.
Taiwan’s Premier Chang San-cheng said authorities suspected a pirate ship was involved, but that possibly a government boat was to blame for the violent clash.
“Even if it is Indonesia’s economic zone, our boats can pass by without causing any damage, so there are many things to clarify,” he said Tuesday.
“(Indonesia) should not have used violent means against our boat even if the boat was engaged in illegal fishing … I would like to state that this kind of violent means are unacceptable,” he said.
Taiwan’s fishing agency said one of the boats had more than 10 bullet holes. The 20 crew members aboard the fishing boats were safe and the vessels were en route to Singapore for a damage assessment, the agency added.
Indonesia’s foreign ministry and fisheries ministry said they were looking into the incident, but did not yet have any information.
Indonesia in 2014 launched a tough crackdown on illegal fishing that involves sinking foreign vessels caught fishing without a permit after impounding the boats and removing the crews.
The hard-line policy has stoked tensions with Indonesia’s neighbors and trading partners. Jakarta lodged a furious protest to Beijing on Monday after the Chinese coast guard intervened as Indonesian patrol ships tried to detain a fishing vessel near islands in the South China Sea.
While Indonesia does not have territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea, Jakarta is nervous about Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the region.
Equation
Lieutenant General
So much for her worthiness of a Nobel Peace Prize. She hates Muslim's after all. Who does she thinks she is, that the world suppose to tell her that she is being interviewed by a Muslim, even if that interviewer works for the BBC?
Aung San Suu Kyi in anti-Muslim spat with BBC presenter
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate made an off-air comment about BBC Today presenter Mishal Husain after losing her temper, new book reveals
Mishal Husain, left, was interviewing Aung San Suu Kyi, right
By,Rangoon and Nicola Harley
4:43PM GMT 25 Mar 2016
Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi is globally revered for her patient, peaceful struggle for democracy, which will finally see her take power next week – but a clash revealed in a new biography of her paints a rather different picture.
According to the book, Ms Suu Kyi lost her temper after a robust interview with BBC Today programme presenter Mishal Husain and muttered off-air: “No-one told me I was going to be interviewed by a Muslim.”
The book reveals that the 70-year-old president of Burma's National League for Democracy refused to condemn anti-Islamic sentiment and massacres of Muslims in Burma when she was repeatedly asked to do so by Husain, the first Muslim presenter of Radio 4’s Today programme, during the interview.
Her response was: "I think there are many, many Buddhists who have also left the country for various reasons. This is a result of our sufferings under a dictatorial regime."
The incident, which took place in 2013 after the interview about anti-Muslim violence, is the latest to raise eyebrows internationally about
'There are many Buddhists who have also left the country... this is a result of our sufferings under a dictatorial regime'
Aung San Suu Kyi
Her National League for Democracy party sailed to victory in November’s 2015 election but it did so without any Muslim candidates, and her government will have no Muslim ministers.
She has also been criticised for her failure to condemn the persecution of the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority, 140,000 of whom still live in miserable conditions in internally displaced persons camps more than three years after violent clashes with the local Buddhist majority.
While Ms Suu Kyi, affectionately known as “The Lady”, will not be Burma’s president after the still-powerful military refused to budge on a clause in the constitution, she is set to rule by proxy through her nomination Htin Kyaw and remains by far the most influential politician in the country.
The latest indication of her attitude comes in a new biography called “The Lady and the Generals: Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma’s Struggle for Freedom”, written by journalist Peter Popham.
“I thought it was worth including in the book because it just feeds into the ambiguity of her position regarding this issue,” he said.
“One has great admiration for her and her life story and courage, but nobody believes anymore that she is a person without any faults and without her own prejudices and limitations.”
Blackstone
Brigadier
We all blurt out things when we're frustrated, so I'd wouldn't put Aung San Suu Kyi out to pasture just for an ill-chosen comment or two.
Equation
Lieutenant General
No but it says a lot about her character according to those "human rights" yammering activists acting as if she's the savior for all man kind in Myanmar.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
She reminds me too much of Obama and the Dala Lama for me to ever really trust her or warm to her - an exceptionally shrewd and patient political animal who carefully crafts and maintains a saintly image and uses the currency of hope to get the masses to trust their hearts over their heads in handing them the only thing they care about - political power.
The very fact that she is ruling by proxy and breaking the spirit of the law in her country's constitution (unfair as that claws is) is a pretty damning indication of her character and thirst for power.
This revelation is actually exceptionally damning and troubling, since this isn't a case of a misrepresentation where she said something in a poorly phrased manner and others took that out of context to twist it as appearing to mean something she doesn't believe in, or she just expressed her personally dislike for someone. This is a slip of her carefully crafted and maintained saintly mask, and what is revealed underneath is deeply ugly and dangerous.
What she said, the context in which it was said, and with the backdrop of her outrageously indefensible position to refuse to condemn the abhorrent ethinic cleansing-style violence being purpatrated in her country gives us a taste of what is likely to come for Burma's remaining Muslims and the bleak prospects of those displaced every likely to get justice or their lives back under her proxy rule.
But, I am going to guess that the vast majority of the western media will just swiftly swept this under the rug in order to maintain her saintly image that they helped massively to cultivate and maintain. Just as they buried stories of the Dalai Lama's ruthless purges of sects within Tibetain Buddhism that he didn't like.
The very fact that she is ruling by proxy and breaking the spirit of the law in her country's constitution (unfair as that claws is) is a pretty damning indication of her character and thirst for power.
This revelation is actually exceptionally damning and troubling, since this isn't a case of a misrepresentation where she said something in a poorly phrased manner and others took that out of context to twist it as appearing to mean something she doesn't believe in, or she just expressed her personally dislike for someone. This is a slip of her carefully crafted and maintained saintly mask, and what is revealed underneath is deeply ugly and dangerous.
What she said, the context in which it was said, and with the backdrop of her outrageously indefensible position to refuse to condemn the abhorrent ethinic cleansing-style violence being purpatrated in her country gives us a taste of what is likely to come for Burma's remaining Muslims and the bleak prospects of those displaced every likely to get justice or their lives back under her proxy rule.
But, I am going to guess that the vast majority of the western media will just swiftly swept this under the rug in order to maintain her saintly image that they helped massively to cultivate and maintain. Just as they buried stories of the Dalai Lama's ruthless purges of sects within Tibetain Buddhism that he didn't like.
Jura The idiot
General
Chinese President on his way to here (personally, I'll stay in a mall
most recent pictures (am choosing just kinda optimistic ones):
while many people here wonder Why the Czech Rep.?
EDIT
Mr. Xi Jinping landed at the time I was preparing this post:
most recent pictures (am choosing just kinda optimistic ones):
while many people here wonder Why the Czech Rep.?
EDIT
Mr. Xi Jinping landed at the time I was preparing this post:
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