On being informed that a South Korean naval patrol vessel sank in disputed maritime waters off the divided peninsula, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), on a state visit to Palau, called an emergency meeting of security officials on Friday night and ordered the activation of Taiwan’s national security mechanism, Presidential Office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said.
Ma also held a conference call yesterday morning with officials in Taipei, including Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), Minister of National Defense Kao Hua-chu (高華柱), Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), to gather further information, Lo said.
“The president wants the public to rest assured that the government will keep a close eye on the situation and make all necessary preparations,” Lo said.
PHOTO: CNA
Palau was the sixth and final leg of Ma’s week-long diplomatic tour of Taiwan’s six South Pacific allies. Ma decided to stick to his itinerary in Palau before flying back to Taipei late last night, Lo said. Officials traveling with the president, including National Security Council Secretary-General Hu Wei-jen (胡為真) and Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添), recommended that the government continue to operate normally and the military maintain a general alert, Lo said.
In Taipei, Ministry of National Defense Spokesman Major General Yu Sy-tue (虞思祖) said the ministry was watching the situation carefully and was in close contact with the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan and national security units.
Yu said military officials would stay on “high” alert, while the military would maintain regular operations and make adjustments when new information is received.
The ministry said that Chief of General Staff Lin Chen-yi (林鎮夷) and three deputy chiefs of general staff have been at the military’s Hengshan Headquarters — the nation’s emergency military command center — monitoring developments.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman James Chang (章計平) announced that the ministry had established an emergency task force led by Deputy Minister Shen Lyh-shun (沈呂巡) and that this would keep in close contact with Taiwan’s representative office in Seoul, the American Institute in Taiwan and the Taipei Economic and Culture Representative Office in the US, and pass any intelligence received up the chain of command.
Some Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday said Ma’s activation of the national security mechanism was an over-reaction, with DPP Legislator William Lai (賴清德) chiding Ma for largely ignoring the more serious threat in the Taiwan Strait with China targeting more than 1,000 missiles at Taiwan.
At a separate setting yesterday, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said the government’s response to the South Korean incident was “appropriate,” dismissing DPP allegations of over-reaction.
“It’s an appropriate reaction as the military did not increase the alert level. If we had not reacted then that would have been irresponsible,” Wu said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) said he didn’t find the government’s response to the incident to be excessive.
“Despite the fact that the incident took place some distance from Taiwan, I would rather see the government ready for any eventuality than sitting on its hands doing nothing,” Ting said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
RSS