The Philippines and Taiwan, as well as China, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam, are embroiled in diplomatic rows over territory in the nearby South China Sea, potentially rich in oil and gas and criss-crossed by crucial shipping lanes.
The disputes have sometimes escalated to confrontation between vessels. The Philippines and Taiwan have overlapping exclusive economic zones (EEZs) in waters to the Philippines north.
A Philippines fisheries official said one of its vessels, acting under the threat of being rammed, opened fire last Thursday on a Taiwanese fishing boat about 170 nautical miles southeast of Taiwan, killing one person on board.
The Philippines has expressed sympathy over what it called an "unfortunate" incident and promised to conduct an investigation, but has stopped short of an official apology.
(Reporting by Clare Jim and Christine Lu; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ron Popeski)
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