Under a False Flag

The Japanese ship „Oriental Bluebird” is registered in Panama under the number 20380-92E. It is identified as an oil tanker. However, now the Panamanian government has withdrawn the registration and the flag from the ship as the Japanese have sailed under a false flag, so to speak.

This follows the discovery by International Nature-Conservation Organisations, that the ship was not transporting oil, but it had rather loaded whale-meat caught by Japanese whalers in Antarctica.

The State of Panama is whale-friendly, and will not endorse whaling activities through the registration of foreign ships, which are regarded as part of its territory.

The Japanese ship-owners have subsequently tried to register the tanker in the tiny Pacific state of Vanuatu, but where rejected there too, as Vanuatu is against whaling.

The question remains, why do the Japanese not go about their dubious activities under their own flag, instead of sailing under a false flag?

Walter Karpf, 12.12.2008

Translation: Alison Bailey