Taiwan hopes to sign an agreement with Japan on fishery rights as soon as possible, a Taiwanese foreign affairs official said Thursday in the wake of a report that Japan hopes to ink the deal in the first half of 2013.
??“We hope to have it (the agreement) signed as soon as possible,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Steve Hsia said.??
He made the remarks when asked about a report published a day earlier that said Japan's representative to Taiwan, Sumio Tarui, expressed hope in a speech in Taipei that Taiwan and Japan can ink a fishery agreement no later than the first half of this year.
??Taiwan and Japan have so far failed to resolve their differences on major issues and held a preparatory meeting in November to discuss a resumption of formal fishery talks to address the issue of fishing rights in the waters surrounding the disputed Diaoyutai Islands in the East China Sea, according to Hsia.
