Taiwan ready to talk fishery agreement with Philippines

Taiwan Thursday said it was ready to resume talks on a fisheries agreement with the Philippines. Negotiations for a fisheries agreement between the two countries broke down after a suspected Taiwanese poacher was fatally shot by the Philippine Coast Guard in the Balintang Channel in May, The Philippine Star reported. However, following the release of findings from an investigation into the incident, Taiwan said it was ready to start negotiating again. The Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation Wednesday recommended homicide charges be filed against eight Philippine Coast Guard personnel who fired at the Taiwanese fisherman. "We are preparing for the fishery talks," Taiwan's Fisheries Agency James Shah said Thursday. In May, Philippines President Benigno Aquino III said that his country was pursuing a potential fisheries agreement with Taiwan and other neighboring countries to put an end to disputes over so-called overlapping exclusive economic zones. "We are having the fisheries agreement [and] our limitations studied. The guarding of the national patrimony provisions of the Constitution will come into play," Aquino said.