The media reported that a Chinese vessel crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait to dredge sand illegally in waters near Penghu County and capsized. The captain apparently neglected to balance his cargo, while being buffeted by strong winds and big waves.
The eastern side of the Strait, into which the Chinese dredger intruded, is commonly called the “Taiwan Banks” (台灣淺堆), or the Nancian Fishing Ground (南淺漁場) among Penghu fishers.
Chinese vessels frequently enter these waters to illegally dredge sand. The dredging harms the ecology of the waters near Penghu, as well as violating the sovereignty and national security of Taiwan.
The government should pass amendments as soon as possible to safeguard the livelihoods of Taiwanese fishers and maintain national security.
The Taiwan Banks are an important fish spawning ground, but dredging by Chinese vessels has seriously damaged the area’s ecology.
In the past, Chinese fishers breached stipulations in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on the mesh size of fishing nets by using three layers of nets to catch fish of all sizes, causing severe overfishing and making it difficult for Taiwanese fishers to earn a living. Often, what fishers could earn from a catch was not enough to cover their fuel costs.
The government must seriously consider these problems and come up with solutions.
A US think tank was quoted by the media as saying that Penghu is key to the safety of both sides of the Strait, which highlights its strategic location.
The first lighthouse in Taiwan was built on Yuwengdao (Fisher Island, 漁翁島) in Penghu’s Siyu Township (西嶼) in 1778, during the reign of the Qing Dynasty’s Qianlong emperor (乾隆), and was rebuilt during the reign of emperor Guangxu (光緒) in 1875.
Next to the lighthouse, Qing Dynasty viceroy Li Hongzhang (李鴻章) built the Eastern Fort (東台古堡) and Western Fort (西台古堡), which are now listed as first-class national historic sites.
After World War II, Yuwengdao became an anchoring area for the US Seventh Fleet and several hydrofoil dual-purpose aircraft.
The Republic of China Army’s 101st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion also used to be stationed at the Eastern Fort.
The Penghu archipelago, part of a continental reef shelf, is composed of many islands, which makes it suitable for fish habitats, migration and spawning, but not conducive for navigating boats.
During the autumn and winter, reduced visibility due to strong winds and big waves caused by the northeast monsoon can pose a severe challenge to sailors trying to navigate the area, and frequently results in shipwrecks.
The Executive Yuan should conduct a new survey of the area and update the navigational charts with more detailed information on reefs and islands.
It should also construct additional lighthouses where necessary — that would facilitate civilian navigation, while aiding navy transportation and patrols.
Tsai Kuo-shyan is a director born in Penghu County’s Siyu Township.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
Criticisms of corruption, a poorly managed bureaucracy and uninformed, unprincipled or unaccomplished policy in China are often met with harsh punishments. Many protesters in the “blank paper movement,” for example, have been disappeared by the authorities. Meanwhile, the WHO has asked China to provide data on its COVID-19 situation, with the Chinese government choosing to disseminate propaganda instead. The first amendment of the US Constitution, written in 1791, prohibits the US government from abridging the freedom of speech, press, assembly, petition, or religion. More than 200 years later, China, the world’s second-largest economy, still lacks the freedoms of speech and the press,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the pride of the nation, has recently become a villain to residents of Tainan’s Annan District (安南). In 2017, TSMC announced plans to build the world’s first 3-nanometer fab in Anding District (安定). While the project was once welcomed by residents of Tainan, it has since become a source of controversy. The new fab requires a huge amount of electricity to operate. To meet TSMC’s surging electricity demand, plans are under way to construct a 1.2 gigawatt gas power station near a residential area in Annan District. More than 10,000 Annan residents have signed a petition
As the People’s Republic of China (PRC) constantly strives to rewrite the Taiwan narrative, it is important to regularly update and correct the stereotypes that the PRC tries to foist on Taiwan and the world. A primary stereotype is that Taiwan has always been a part of China and its corollary that Taiwan has been a part of China since time immemorial. Both are false. Taiwan has always been a part of the vast Austronesian empire, which stretched from Madagascar in the west to Easter Island in the east and from Taiwan in the north to New Zealand in the south. That
I first visited Taiwan in 1985, when I was deputed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to start a dialogue with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). I spent three days talking to officials, the end result being the signing of an agreement where the Republic of China (ROC) recognized the right to self-determination of Tibetans. According to official KMT records in Nanking, Tibet never paid taxes to the ROC government. In 1997, the Dalai Lama made his first ever visit to Taiwan on the invitation of then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). Lee took the bold step of opening Taiwan’s doors to
RSS