Quote:
A 270-ton sports fishing boat, with 16 crew and deep-sea anglers aboard, sank off the Tiaoyutai islands in a collision with a Japanese frigate yesterday.
No causalities were reported.
The accident occurred at 3:23 a.m. after the SS Lien Ho apparently was hit from behind by the Koshiki of the Japanese Sea Defense Force in patrol.
All aboard the Lien Ho, whose home port is Nanya, were thrown overboard. They were rescued by the Koshiki, and taken to Ishigaki jima, one of the southernmost island of the Ryukyus some 200 kilometers east of Juifang.
<snip>
The two ships collided when the Lien Ho suddenly changed course as the Japanese coastguardsmen attempted to check the name of the sports fishing boat, a CNA dispatch from Tokyo said.
- source |
Suddenly changed course my smelly hairy arse.
Ramming is a well documented technique that Japanese ships have been known to use.
They claim it is their territorial waters? On what basis?
The isles are Chinese not Japanese but Japan does quite a bit of manuvering here that allows it to steal theses isles in plain view - that is due to the very political nature of the Republic of China.
Japan nor the rest of the world formally recognize the Republic of China aka Taiwan, minus a few insignificant nations. The rest of the world formally recognizes only the PRC aka the China.
During the time in which the ROC had to fend for herself without a formal naval force it left many of the out lier islets to themselves, especially islets such as the Diaoyu isles that have no natural resources but a wealth of economic fisheries.
Close enough to the Okinawa isles Japan illegally builds a lighthouse on the main diaoyu island and illegally stole the island to claim as it's own.
Taiwan needs the relationship with Japan for both political and economic reasons and neither had the military ability to counter the 4th most powerful naval force in the world.
Mainland China also lays claim to the diaoyu isles as much as it claims Taiwan but should the mainland ever launch a naval task force to take the isles it would spark another major conflict in the world. Not to mention another fact that neither the mainland has a naval force that is anywhere near as powerful as that of Japan's self-defence force - which in all other accounts is in every way an actual navy except by name.