China unveiled a new navy commander, a move that comes amid worsening tensions in the South China Sea and as the Philippines rejected China’s accusation that Manila was encroaching on Beijing’s territory.
Hu Zhongming (胡中明) was promoted to the rank of admiral at a ceremony in Beijing attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Monday, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The report marked the first time that Hu has been publicly referred to as commander of the People’s Liberation Army Navy. China’s military is known for providing few details on key personnel moves.
Photo: The Philippine Coast Guard via AP
The report did not say what is next for Hu’s predecessor, Dong Jun (董軍), who appeared as head of the navy in 2021. Dong was also attended the ceremony, a Xinhua photograph showed.
Hu previously served as the navy’s chief of staff, and before that captained a submarine. He joined a celebrated mission in 2002 in which a Chinese destroyer sailed around the world over four months.
Xinhua also said that Wang Wenquan (王文全) was the new political commissar of the Southern Theater Command, which oversees Chinese military activity in the South China Sea.
Wang was also promoted, to general.
The changes comes as China flexes its muscles in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims as its own, and in the Taiwan Strait.
Philippine military spokesman Medel Aguilar yesterday rejected China’s accusation that Manila was encroaching on Beijing’s territory.
It was the latest salvo amid rising tensions as the two have traded accusations in the past few months over a series of maritime run-ins, including China allegedly ramming a ship this month carrying the Philippines’ military chief.
“The Philippines is not provoking conflict,” Aguilar told state broadcaster the People’s Television Network. “We follow international law and we are only implementing our domestic law, meaning the limits of our territorial waters and exclusive economic zone, where we have sovereign rights.”
The comments came a day after China’s People’s Daily wrote that the Philippines had relied on US support to continually provoke China.
This “extremely dangerous” behavior has seriously harmed regional peace and stability, it said.
Aguilar said Philippine activities would not put vessels and seafarers in danger, instead accusing China of carrying out dangerous maneuvers that sometimes result in collisions at sea.
“They are the ones committing all the violations,” he added.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS