Minister of National Defense Lee Tien-yu (李天羽) said at a luncheon with reporters yesterday that the president has the authority to visit any part of the nation's territory at any time and the military was obliged to facilitate any such visit.
"He [the president] has the authority to do that," Lee said. "It is our job to make sure that any trip the president makes is as safe as possible."
Lee's comments referred to speculation that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was planning to visit the newly completed airstrip on Taiping Island (太平島), the biggest atoll of the Spratly Islands (南沙群島), located 1,600km southwest of Kaohsiung.
The Spratly Islands, which consist of more than 100 small islands or reefs surrounded by fishing grounds and oil deposits, are claimed either entirely or partially by Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Lee said the runway, which is 1,198m long and 7m wide, can accommodate aircraft as large as a C-130 Hercules. It takes approximately seven to eight hours to reach Taiping Island from Kaohsiung.
The minister confirmed that the runway is now ready and that Air Force Commander-in-chief Peng Sheng-chu (
If the president was planning to visit the island, the ministry would help organize a trip for reporters as well, Lee said.
Meanwhile, Marshall Islands President Litokwa Tomeing yesterday reassured Vice President Annette Lu (
Tomeing, who had earlier voiced support for forging ties with Beijing, pledged to Lu in a speech that the Marshall Islands -- one of only 23 countries that recognizes Taiwan -- would not forsake Taipei. He also said his country would continue to support Taiwan's efforts to join the UN and the WHO.
Lu arrived in the Marshall Islands yesterday at the start of a three-nation Pacific tour that also includes stops in Nauru and the Solomon Islands. All three Pacific island nations have changed government in the past two months.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry