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 manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
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