By Ralph Jennings, Christian Science Monitor, 3/22/13
Taiwan says Japan is set to give it fishing rights to waters around a set of disputed islands. That could mean that Japan wants Taiwan on its side in the struggle against China over the disputed ocean.
Japan is ready to open a contested tract of the East China Sea to fishing boats from Taiwan, officials in Taipei say, a rare concession in a bitter territorial dispute that involves heavyweight China and has the United States on guard.
Tokyo is “willing to extend the fishing area” to Taiwanese boats, though the boundaries have yet to be worked out, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister David Lin told reporters on Wednesday.