The Pentagon has sounded a warning over China’s plans to introduce floating nuclear power plants on disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea, part of an annual report assessing the nation’s military strength.
“China’s plans to power these islands may add a nuclear element to the territorial dispute,” the Pentagon said in a report to US Congress titled Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China. “China indicated development plans may be under way to power islands and reefs in the typhoon-prone South China Sea with floating nuclear power stations; development reportedly is to begin prior to 2020.”
The South China Morning Post last year reported that the state-run China Securities Journal in 2016 said that China could build as many as 20 floating nuclear plants to “speed up the commercial development” of the South China Sea.
Several Chinese state-run companies last year established a joint venture that aims to strengthen China’s nuclear power capabilities in line with its ambitions to “become a strong maritime power,” the South China Morning Post said, citing a statement released by the venture.
Beijing claims more than 80 percent of the South China Sea, through which about US$3.4 trillion of global trade passes each year. Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines also have claims to all or parts of the region.
US-China military ties have deteriorated over the past few months, with the administration of US President Donald Trump in May revoking an invitation for Beijing to join in Pacific naval exercises due to its activities in disputed parts of the sea.
China has reclaimed 1,295 hectares of land in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), on which it has added ports, runways and other military infrastructure.
“The best-case scenario for the region would be China reconsidering the electricity supply source for its controlled islands, or at least a delay in the deployment of the fleet,” given potential safety challenges and security risks from pirates or regional terror groups, Viet Phuong Nguyen, a researcher at South Korean university KAIST, wrote on the Diplomat Web site in May.
The report also found that the Chinese military has expanded bomber operations and was “likely training for strikes” against the US and its allies.
China is willing to employ coercive measures and mitigate opposition of other countries, including the unsuccessful use of economic and diplomatic pressure to get South Korea to reconsider the deployment of a US anti-missile system, the report said.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, the China Coast Guard and the China Maritime Militia now form the largest maritime force in the Indo-Pacific region, the report said, adding that the three services sometimes conduct coordinated missions, including planting a flag on Sandy Cay (Dunqian Cay, 敦謙沙洲), a sandbar within 12 nautical miles (22.km) of Subi Reef (Jhubi Reef, 渚碧礁) and Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島), “possibly in response to Manila’s reported plans to upgrade its runway on Thitu Island.”
The PLA Air Force has significantly increased circumnavigations of Taiwan, passing through the Miyako Strait and Bashi Channel in the same mission, it said.
Military-controlled coast guard ships sailed an average of once every 10 days within 12 nautical miles of Japan-administered islands in the East China Sea, it added.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
MIXED SOURCING: While Taiwan is expanding domestic production, it also sources munitions overseas, as some, like M855 rounds, are cheaper than locally made ones Taiwan and the US plan to jointly produce 155mm artillery shells, as the munition is in high demand due to the Ukraine-Russia war and should be useful in Taiwan’s self-defense, Armaments Bureau Director-General Lieutenant General Lin Wen-hsiang (林文祥) told lawmakers in Taipei yesterday. Lin was responding to questions about Taiwan’s partnership with allies in producing munitions at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. Given the intense demand for 155mm artillery shells in Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion, and in light of Taiwan’s own defensive needs, Taipei and Washington plan to jointly produce 155mm shells, said Lin,
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