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Control Yuan says executive bungled airstrip construction

The Control Yuan yesterday proposed taking corrective measures against the Executive Yuan for negligent supervision of the airstrip project on Taiping Island (太平島), the biggest of the Spratly Islands (南沙群島).

Control Yuan member Frank Wu (吳豐山) said the Executive Yuan had allowed the Ministry of National Defense (MND) to undertake the project alone, while excluding the Coast Guard Administration (CGA), which is the regulatory agency of Taiping Island.

The Spratly Islands, which consist of more than 100 small islands or reefs surrounded by fishing grounds and oil deposits, are claimed either entirely or partly by Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Wu said the Control Yuan supported the Executive Yuan’s argument for building an airstrip on Taiping Island, despite the international controversy sparked by the plan.

The Control Yuan agreed the project was needed to defend the country’s territorial sovereignty, develop maritime resources and advance its geopolitical, political and diplomatic interests, but questioned the Executive Yuan’s handling of the plan.

Wu said that the project must be dealt with by a special task force established by the Executive Yuan in 1992 and carried out in accordance with the Policy Guidelines for the South China Sea (南海政策綱領), which were created the next year.

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications proposed building an airstrip to the task force in 1994 and in 2003 the CGA was assigned by the task force as the regulatory agency in charge of the islet and commissioned to study the possibility of putting the airstrip there.

But in 2005, the MND, which was also a member of the task force, submitted a separate proposal to build the airstrip on the islet.

The Executive Yuan approved it and appropriated NT$715 million (US$22.04 million) from its first reserve fund to back the project.

The construction project undertaken by the MND was completed last year, but it was overshadowed by concerns that it had been built without assessing its impact on the surrounding environment or obtaining legislative approval for the spending it entailed.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have accused the MND of pushing to complete the project for a visit by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
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