President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has instructed the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) to add the name “Taiwan” to its patrol vessels to increase the nation’s international visibility at sea, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said yesterday.
Chang’s statement came after the Chinese-language United Daily News reported earlier that the CGA was ordered by “high-level security officials” to add the name “Taiwan” next to the “Republic of China Coast Guard” designation on patrol vessels.
While the CGA initially denied having received such instructions, Chang said in a statement that the so-called “high-level security official” was Tsai.
Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration via CNA
At the launch of a new coast guard vessel — the Anping (安平) — in Kaohsiung on Dec. 11 last year, Tsai said that the vessel was good, but would be better if it were marked with “Taiwan,” so that coast guard personnel would be more clearly recognized by the international community when enforcing the law at sea, Chang said.
Nearly 300,000 foreign-flagged vessels sail the seas surrounding Taiwan every year, he said.
Coast guard personnel are tasked with patrolling the nation’s territorial waters and combating maritime crimes, he said, adding that they drove away many illegal dredging vessels operating near Lienchang County’s Matsu last year.
They are more burdened after China on Feb. 1 enforced its China Coast Guard Law, he said.
The legislation empowers Chinese coast guard personnel to inspect foreign vessels in waters claimed by China and use weapons — hand-held, ship borne or airborne — on foreign vessels.
Using the name “Taiwan” on CGA vessels would allow coast guard personnel to be better recognized and do their job more safely, Chang said, adding that “no provocation” and “no surrender” remain the government’s abiding positions.
The CGA said that it began adding the name “Taiwan” on some vessels last month, while 225 have yet to have the name added.
Senior adviser to the president Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) applauded Tsai’s move.
Taiwanese consciousness is lacking in the nation and people are glad to see that Tsai is willing to lead Taiwan to become normalized, Koo said in a news release yesterday.
However, Koo also said he hoped that Tsai would modify the Constitution, which is grounded in the “one China” concept, or Taiwan would not be able to break free of its global predicament and the “one China” framework.
Additional reporting by CNA
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole