Three of four Taiwanese fishing boats on their way to Taiwan-held Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) in the South China Sea were scheduled to reach the island’s shores last night, a spokesman for the group of fishing boats said earlier in the day.
The fourth boat, which was carrying three reporters from Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television, was to drop anchor in waters off the island, said Lo Chiang-fei (羅強飛), who acts as a spokesman for the fishermen.
The fishing boats left Taiwan on Wednesday last week to assert that Itu Aba is an island under international law and reaffirm their fishing rights in the South China Sea in response to a July 12 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Photo: CNA
In a case brought by the Philippines against China, the court said all high-tide features in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), including Itu Aba Island, are legally “rocks” rather than islands and therefore not entitled to 200 nautical mile (370km) exclusive economic zones.
Although Taiwan was not a party to the case and has said it would not be bound by the ruling, other nations in the region could use it to limit where Taiwanese fishermen can operate.
As of 11:14am yesterday, the fishing boat fleet was 53 nautical miles from Taiping, which lies 864 nautical miles from Kaohsiung, Lo said.
By press time last night, there was no update on the boats’ position.
They did not anticipate any trouble landing on Itu Aba, even though it is categorized as a military-controlled zone into which fishermen are prohibited from entering without authorization from the Ministry of National Defense, the spokesman said.
Lo said the fishermen would ask Coast Guard Administration personnel stationed on the island to provide assistance on the grounds that they are in need of emergency shelter and have to replenish their supplies there.
Regarding the three TV reporters who joined the group, Lo said that while they had crew permits to board the ships, the boat carrying them would stop short of the island to prevent their presence from becoming a distraction.
Amid questions that the three reporters might have received financial support from China to participate, Lo said it was an activity conducted purely by civilians without the support of political parties or groups.
Lo said that reporters from several media outlets expressed interest in covering the trip, but only those with crew boarding permits were allowed to participate.
He said the group did not favor the Hong Kong-based TV station over other media outlets and reiterated that it did not have any political affiliation.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS