The Paracel Islands (西沙群島) are an integral territory of the Republic of China (ROC), a government official said yesterday, amid rumors that China plans to let tourists visit the disputed islands.
“According to our Constitution, the Paracel Islands are part of our territory. There is no doubt that we will adhere to our principles,” said Mainland Affairs Council spokesperson Liu Te-shun (劉德勳), adding that based on the premise of ROC ownership, the country would like to set aside disputes over sovereign claims and jointly explore the region with other countries.
Liu made the remark when questioned by reporters over a wire report yesterday which said that Deng Xiaogang (鄧小剛), a vice mayor of Haikou on China’s southern island of Hainan, which is close to the Paracel Islands, had been quoted by China’s state media as saying authorities hoped to allow maritime tourism on the Paracels within the year.
The Paracels — or Hoang Sa Islands in Vietnamese — are a cluster of close to 40 islets, outcrops and reefs in the South China Sea. They are claimed by Taiwan as well as Vietnam and China.
Later yesterday however, the Web site of China's mouthpiece, the People's Daily, cited Deng as saying he had never spoken to the media about this issue.
“[I] don't understand anything about tourism in the Paracels", he told the People's Daily.
The report also said he no longer had any position in Hainan's tourism department.
China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊), asked about the possibility of promoting tourism in the Paracels, repeated the Chinese government's view that the islands were Chinese sovereign territory.
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
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
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BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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