Vietnam snubbed visiting Chinese Defense Minister Chi Haotian (遲浩田) yesterday, insisting it would brook no compromise in its territorial dispute with its giant neighbor in the South China Sea and detailing its military preparedness.
Top officials, military commanders and border guards met to discuss the defense of the disputed Spratly Islands just as Chi held talks with Communist Party chief Le Kha Phieu on Friday, an official daily revealed.
"Vietnam has striven to settle these disputes in a peaceful manner but remains determined to defend its sovereignty over every meter of its sea border," said the newspaper Saigon Giai Phong.
The article was carried on the paper's front page just as Chi was due to travel to Vietnam's commercial capital of Ho Chi Minh City following his talks in Hanoi.
The paper revealed for the first time that naval patrols uncovered nearly 300 "violations" last year in areas of the archipelago under Hanoi's control.
"The nature of the disputes remained extremely intense," the paper said, although it acknowledged that there had been "no military clashes."
The "violations" included unauthorized fishing as well as exploitation of oil and other natural resources of the continental shelf.
Although more than half of the islands are under Vietnam's control, they are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan, as well as China.
In recent years there have been a string of high-profile incidents involving Chinese encroachments of areas under Philippine control, including one as recently as last month.
But Vietnam had hitherto stayed silent about encroachments in areas under its control.
Friday's meeting decided that the islands should have their own local government just like any other part of Vietnam, Saigon Giai Phong said. "We must rapidly establish an administration for the the islands to solve its administrative problems."
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
RSS