After declaring the Dongsha Islands (東沙群島, known as the Pratas Islands in English) and the atolls around them in the South China Sea a national park in 2007, Taiwan reaffirmed its sovereignty over the islands by inaugurating an administrative office on the main island yesterday.
“The Marine National Park is the country’s seventh national park and the first national park to cover coral reef and the ocean,” Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said during a ceremony to unveil the Marine National Park Headquarters on Dongsha Island yesterday. “This not only shows the government’s determination to protect the ocean and the ecology here, but also shows that the we have sovereignty over the Dongsha Islands.”
He said that, historically, the Dongsha Islands have always belonged to the Republic of China, adding that “some neighboring countries may have made similar claims, but we do not recognize them, and will not change our stance.”
Asked if the government would protest Google Maps’ labeling of the Dongsha Islands as being under the administration of Guangdong Province, China, Jiang said they were historically part of Guangdong Province, “but currently they’re under the administration of Taiwan’s Kaohsiung City.”
The Dongsha Islands are about 450km southwest of Kaohsiung, and fall under the administratiion of Kaohsiung City’s Cijin District (旗津). The main island, Dongsha, has an area of 1.47km².
Besides Taiwan, China also claims sovereignty over the islands.
Marine National Park Director Yang Mo-lin (楊模麟) said the Dongsha Atoll National Park was only part of the Marine National Park.
“We plan to include more islands in the South China Sea under the Marine National Park’s jurisdiction, including the Spratly Islands,” he said, without giving a concrete timetable.
Sovereignty over the Spratly Islands is also disputed, with Taiwan, China, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Vietnam all claiming authority over part or all of the reefs, atolls and islands found there.
Currently, Taiping Island (太平島) is under Taiwanese jurisdiction.
After inaugurating the office, the national park signed a memorandum of understanding with Naitonal Sun Yat-sen University, commissioning the school’s College of Marines Sciences to launch a thorough study of the ecology and underwater geography of the areas surrounding the atoll reefs.
Although the islands are not accessible to the public at the moment, Yang said the office was planning to open them to limited public access in the future.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard