The nation's territory should cover the islands of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and the more controversial Pratas, Spratly and Diaoyu islands, according to the Cabinet.
Dubbed the "constitution of the land," the draft national land planning law would, for the first time, specify the Republic of China's (ROC) territory, specifying land, coastal and sea areas.
The Constitution does not clearly define the "existing national boundaries" and an interpretation by the Council of Grand Justices in 1993 failed to resolve the politically sensitive issue.
The ROC Territorial Waters and Neighboring Areas Law (
The Taiwan Strait is only 200km wide, making a clear delineation between China and Taiwan difficult.
The Pratas Islands are 440km southwest of Kaohsiung and 260km south of China's Guangdong Province. The Spratly Islands are 70km north of Hong Kong. The eight uninhabited Diaoyu Islands are 220km northwest of Taiwan.
Besides Taiwan, the Philippines, China and Indonesia claim the Spratly Islands. The Pratas Islands are claimed by China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Only Taiwan, however, has personnel -- armed coast guards, who recently replaced a marine garrison -- stationed on the Spratly and the Pratas Islands.
Arguments have also been going on between Taiwan, China and Japan since 1971 over the Diaoyutais.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
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