The Ministry of National Defense (MND) was noncommittal yesterday in the face of demands from lawmakers to send troops to Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島), the the largest of the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) in the South China Sea.
Lawmakers, including Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Yu-ling (呂玉玲), proposed at a budget review that the government should send marines to the island in the wake of an international court ruling earlier this year that refused to recognize the nation’s sovereignty and downgraded the island to a rock.
The ministry declined to support the proposal, saying that the Coast Guard Administration is responsible for patrolling the island, though the military could do more to improve its supply capabilities.
The ministry said that decisions on troop deployments are a matter of policymaking at the highest level of government.
In July, The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration declared the “nine-dash line” that underpins Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea to be invalid.
The court also declared all high-tide features in the Spratly Islands, including Taiwan-controlled Itu Aba, to be “rocks” and not islands, a difference in terminology that denies them the right to an exclusive economic zone.
Taipei rejected the ruling and said it is not legally binding, and reiterated its sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their surrounding waters.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
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