Academics at a think tank in the US are supportive of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) proposal of a peace initiative to deal with territorial disputes in the East China Sea, Representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) said.
During a visit to the National Committee on American Foreign Policy in New York on Friday, King said that the academics there agree that all parties involved in the territorial row should shelve their disputes, maintain dialogue and establish a mechanism for joint exploration of resources near the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), as Ma has proposed.
Located about 120 nautical miles (220km) northeast of Taipei, the island chain is also claimed by Japan and China.
King said the US academics basically hold the same view as Ma, who wishes to maintain regional peace, avoid conflicts and reduce risks.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal and Agence France-Presse, King also explained the motives of a Taiwanese fishing boat crew that attempted to land on the island chain on Thursday, but was deterred by Japanese authorities.
The attempt represented Taiwan’s latest bid to uphold its sovereignty over the Diaoyutais.
Later, during a visit to the Chinese Community Center of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, he told a group of more than 1,000 Taiwanese expatriates that US-Taiwan ties are their closest in 30 years, partly because of Ma’s low-key, practical and “zero-accident” diplomatic approach. Territorial disputes over the Diaoyutais have escalated since the Japanese government bought three of the islets in the chain from their private owner in September last year.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS