Presidential Office spokesperson Charles Chen (陳以信) yesterday blasted president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) for calling President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) barbs against those criticizing his trip to Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) “inappropriate.”
Ma on Thursday was upset after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) and others condemned his one-day trip to Itu Aba as an unnecessary provocation, saying they should not “hold him back by dragging his feet” when he tried to defend Taiwan’s sovereignty over the island.
Before Ma made the retort, the DPP said that Chao’s remarks were his personal views and the DPP’s official stance originates with Tsai, who maintains Taiwan’s sovereignty over the region and supports freedom of navigation by either airplanes or naval vessels.
Nevertheless, in response to Ma’s comments, Tsai on Friday said that Ma should “face serious issues with a serious attitude; the way he commented on the issue is very inappropriate.”
“If Tsai thought that a DPP lawmaker’s criticism of Ma was right, why did the DPP have to claim that it was Chao’s personal view to distance itself from the remarks? And if Tsai believes [Ma’s trip to the island] should not be condemned, why did she say that Ma’s call for the nation’s support was ‘inappropriate’?” Chen said, adding that Tsai’s self-contradictory logic is hard to understand or support.
Chen said Itu Aba is the territory of the Republic of China and is the largest island with drinkable fresh water among the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), but the island’s legal status is now being seriously challenged by the Philippines, which has attempted to relegate the island’s status to that of a “rock” before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, the Netherlands, and thereby strip its 200 nautical mile (370km) exclusive economic zone.
The “ridiculous claims” made by the Philippines would deal significant damage to the nation’s rights and interests if acceded, Chen said.
“So was it not the perfect time for President Ma to make a trip in order to voice our deep concerns to the international community and the PCA?” he asked.
“Should President Ma just sit and watch the PCA make a ruling that is against our interests and later be slammed as the president who ‘neglected his duty and humiliated his nation?’” Chen asked.
The challenge by another nation to Itu Aba’s legal status is an extremely serious issue, Chen said, adding that the ruling and opposition parties should present a united front to face the challenge.
“Why does Tsai not condemn inappropriate criticism made from within the DPP? Why does she not, along with Ma, publicly assert to the international community that Itu Aba is an island rather than a rock in her capacity as president-elect?” Chen asked.
A global survey showed that 60 percent of Taiwanese had attained higher education, second only to Canada, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan easily surpassed the global average of 43 percent and ranked ahead of major economies, including Japan, South Korea and the US, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2024 showed. Taiwan has a high literacy rate, data released by the ministry showed. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had 20.617 million people aged 15 or older, accounting for 88.5 percent of the total population, with a literacy rate of 99.4 percent, the data
NEW LOW: The council in 2024 based predictions on a pessimistic estimate for the nation’s total fertility rate of 0.84, but last year that rate was 0.69, 17 percent lower An expected National Development Council (NDC) report expects the nation’s population to drop below 12 million by 2065, with the old-age dependency ratio to top 100 percent sooner than 2070, sources said yesterday. The council is slated to release its latest population projections in August, using an ultra-low fertility model, the sources said. The previous report projected that Taiwan’s population would fall to 14.37 million by 2070, but based on a new estimate of the total fertility rate (TFR) — the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime — the population is expected to reach 12 million by
INTENSIFYING THREATS: Beijing’s tactics include massive attacks on the government service network, aircraft and naval vessel incursions and damaging undersea cables China is prepared to interfere in November’s nine-in-one local elections by launching massive attacks on the Taiwanese government’s service network (GSN), a report published by the National Security Bureau showed. The report was submitted to the Legislative Yuan ahead of the bureau’s scheduled briefing at the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The national security team has identified about 13,000 suspicious Internet accounts and 860,000 disputed messages, the bureau said of China’s cognitive warfare against Taiwan. The disputed messages focus on major foreign affairs, national defense and economic issues, which were produced using generative artificial intelligence (AI) and distributed through Chinese
COUNTERING HOSTILITY: The draft bill would require the US to increase diplomatic pressure on China and would impose sanctions on those who sabotage undersea cable networks US lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bipartisan bill to bolster the resilience of Taiwan’s submarine cables to counter China’s hostile activities. The proposal, titled the critical undersea infrastructure resilience initiative act, was cosponsored by Republican representatives Mike Lawler and Greg Stanton, and Democratic Representative Dave Min. US Senators John Curtis and Jacky Rosen also introduced a companion bill in the US Senate, which has passed markup at the chamber’s Committee on Foreign Relations. The House’s version of the bill would prioritize the deployment of sensors to detect disruptions or potential sabotage in real-time and enhance early warning capabilities through global intelligence sharing frameworks,
RSS