The Ministry of National Defense said yesterday that it is planning to station military forces on Taiping Island (
"We recognize the strategic significance of the Spratly Islands and we are planning to return our marines [to Taiping Island]," minister Lee Jye (李傑) told a legislative national defense committee meeting yesterday.
The ministry withdrew its marines from the Pratas and Spratly islands in 1999 citing logistical difficulties, leaving the coastguard to patrol those territories.
Airstrip
Construction of an airstrip on Taiping Island began late last year. Although the ministry initially said that it was being built for humanitarian purposes, such as emergency rescue efforts by the coastguard of sick or injured sailors or fishermen, it later admitted that it also had strategic value.
That admission, together with the more recent decision to place marines on the island suggests that the ministry is taking a more active approach to protecting the nation's territorial waters in the South China Sea.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said in the legislative meeting that China had various ways of placing pressure on Taiwan, one of which could be to launch a surprise attack on either Taiping Island or Wuchiu Island (烏坵) in Kinmen County.
In admitting the strategic considerations behind the government's plan to build an airstrip on Taiping Island, former deputy minister of national defense Michael Tsai (
Against this backdrop, it would be very helpful if Taiwan could expand its strategic depth and improve its early warning capability by building a base in the South China Sea, which is an international thoroughfare for airplanes and ships, Tsai said.
Military experts have said that if Taiwanese military aircraft were able to take off and land on outlying islands in the South China Sea, the nation's defensive capabilities would be vastly improved.
Submarines
Observers have also noted that Chinese exploration vessels frequently appear in waters south of Taiwan, speculating that they do so in order to conduct hydrographic research for their submarine fleets.
They warned that the waters around the Spratly Islands and Pratas Islands are strategically significant because the submarines of Beijing's South China Sea fleet must pass the islands to enter the waters southwest of Taiwan, or to enter the Pacific Ocean through the Bashi Strait.
The Spratly Islands, which consist of more than 100 small islands or reefs surrounded by rich fishing grounds and oil deposits, are claimed either entirely or partially by Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.
While Taiwan occupies Taiping Island, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam have also stationed small numbers of military forces on some of the other islands.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
RSS