China has made serious demarches to Japan over the detention of a fishing boat from the Taiwan region, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Friday.
Mao made the statement at a press conference in Beijing in response to the recent detention of a Taiwan-based fishing vessel, Hongcaitou No.6, by a Japanese patrol ship for allegedly violating fisheries regulations. The vessel was released only after a substantial bail was paid.
"The Chinese government attaches great importance to safeguarding the lawful rights and interests of Chinese fishermen, including those from the Taiwan region. According to the China-Japan Fisheries Agreement, Japan has no right to take law enforcement measures against Chinese fishing vessels in the relevant waters," Mao said.
"In response to the Japanese seizure of the fishing boat 'Hongcaitou No.6', China has made serious demarches to the Japanese side, asking the Japanese side to immediately correct the wrongdoing, and take effective measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again," said the spokeswoman.
China makes serious demarches to Japan over detention of Taiwan fishing boat: spokeswoman
China makes serious demarches to Japan over detention of Taiwan fishing boat: spokeswoman
The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.
The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.
Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.
"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.
Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.
Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.
"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.
Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight
