The government is on alert as tensions between China and Vietnam are again on the rise due to Beijing’s unilateral decision to resume the installation of oil rigs in the South China Sea, officials said yesterday.
Taiwanese businesses with investments in Vietnam are afraid of a repeat of the anti-China riots in May last year, officials said.
Riots broke out when China moved the Haiyang Shiyou 981 near the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) in May last year, which the Vietnamese government protested as a violation of Vietnamese territorial claims, while China said the move was legal as the islands were under its military control.
Many Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam suffered break-ins and robberies, as well as arson due to anti-Chinese sentiment.
Taiwan also claims sovereignty of the Paracel Islands in the dispute over maritime boundaries and territories in the South China Sea.
According to a report on Huanqiu.com yesterday, which is owned by the Chinese Communist Party newspaper the People’s Daily, the Chinese Maritime Safety Administration announced on Thursday that from now until Aug. 20 it would be deploying oil rigs in the South China Sea.
The announcement was accompanied by a demand for unrelated ships to maintain a distance of 2km from the oil rigs.
The Haiyang Shiyou 981 is to be deployed to 17o 3.75 minutes north latitude and 109o 59.05 minutes east longitude, according to the administration’s Web site on Thursday.
Taiwanese officials said the location is southeast of the Chinese city of Sanya in Hainan Province and east of the Vietnamese city of Hue, adding that it was slightly northwest of the location that caused last year’s riots.
The officials said they expect the announcement to cause a strong reaction in Vietnam, and due to concerns for citizens abroad as well as the potential impacts to Taiwanese claims in the region, the government has ordered all foreign ministry officials to be on standby in the event of protests.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
A British man was arrested for attempting to smuggle 14.37kg of marijuana into Taiwan through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei Customs said late yesterday. The man, who arrived from Bangkok at 9pm on Friday, was asked by customs officers to open his luggage during a random inspection, Taipei Customs said in a news release. The passenger, whose identity was not disclosed, refused to open his suitcase and tried to flee the restricted area. He was eventually subdued by three customs officials and an Aviation Police Bureau officer. A later search of his checked luggage uncovered 14.37kg of marijuana buds. The case was handed over
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