The next round of Taiwan-Japan fishery rights talks will put aside sovereignty disputes to focus on practical goals concerning the sharing and joint management of fishing resources, diplomatic sources said yesterday.
In accordance with this spirit, the diplomatic sources said no sovereignty issue will be touched on during the upcoming 17th round of bilateral talks, and nor will any side engage in discussions to set out new temporary law enforcement boundaries, according to a Chinese-language report said.
Taiwan's side hopes to forge a consensus with Japan on settling the fishery disputes that frequently occur in the region, in which Taiwanese fishing boats are often harassed by Japanese coast guard vessels near the disputed Diaoyutai Islands, the report citied sources as saying.
Both sides will try to draw up a joint management mechanism for waters with overlapping territorial claims by putting aside the sovereignty controversy, the diplomatic sources said.
