Pan-blue legislators slammed the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday for "not standing up to Japan," with one prominent lawmaker calling Japan a "dangerous element" in the region on a par with North Korea.
The lawmakers made the comments while panning CGA Director Wang Chin-wang (
"There's been a lot a talk about the arms bill lately, but little said about our Coast Guard Administration, which is oftentimes the only line of defense for our maritime territory, including our economic zones," said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Joanna Lei (雷情) during the meeting.
Lei added that the coast guard focused too much on intercepting Chinese vessels while Japan bullied Taiwanese fishing boats with virtual impunity.
"How many of our boats have Chinese authorities intercepted this year?" Lei asked Wang.
"None," Wong answered, adding that Japan refuses to recognize Taiwan's proposed maritime boundaries.
"So why are we stopping Chinese boats when they don't stop ours? Japan is our biggest bully. How come we're not doing more to assert our maritime sovereignty over Japan?" Lei asked.
KMT Legislator John Wu (
"Japan colonized us for half a century, and while their Self Defense Forces sound innocuous, they are actually very powerful," Wu said, adding that Japan was as dangerous as North Korea.
Regarding the Diaoyutai, Wu said that a Taiwan-Japan "showdown" was necessary to make the country's stance clear.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
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