President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday unveiled two new ships that are to join patrols in waters off the disputed Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in the East China Sea.
“We will gradually build up our capabilities in the sea to enforce the law, to conduct rescue missions and protect fishermen,” Ma said before boarding a new ship to inspect a drill off the Port of Kaohsiung.
Taiwan will not “concede one step” in upholding its sovereignty claim over the islands, he said as he renewed his calls for the nations involved to negotiate and set aside their claims to the islands and jointly develop the rich natural resources there.
Photo: Huang Chien-hua, Taipei Times
The contested islands, in an area where the seabed is believed to harbor valuable mineral reserves, are claimed by Taiwan as well as Japan and China.
In January, coast guard vessels from Taiwan and Japan converged and dueled with water cannons in their latest stand-off as a boat carrying Taiwanese activists was heading to the islands, known as the Senkakus in Japan.
The incident came at a time of growing regional concern over the intensified friction over the islands between China and Japan, with both Beijing and Tokyo recently scrambling fighter jets to assert their claims to the area.
Photo: Reuters
Coast guard vessels from Taiwan and Japan also exchanged water cannon barrages in September last year after dozens of Taiwanese boats were escorted by patrol ships into the islands’ waters.
Japan’s government nationalized three islets in September last year by taking them out of private Japanese ownership, triggering strong protests from Taiwan and China.
Organizing one national referendum and 26 recall elections targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators could cost NT$1.62 billion (US$55.38 million), the Central Election Commission said yesterday. The cost of each recall vote ranges from NT$16 million to NT$20 million, while that of a national referendum is NT$1.1 billion, the commission said. Based on the higher estimate of NT$20 million per recall vote, if all 26 confirmed recall votes against KMT legislators are taken into consideration, along with the national referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, the total could be as much as NT$1.62 billion, it said. The commission previously announced
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s remarks that the organization’s cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners must be deepened to deter potential threats from China and Russia. Rutte on Wednesday in Berlin met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ahead of a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of Germany’s accession to NATO. He told a post-meeting news conference that China is rapidly building up its armed forces, and the number of vessels in its navy outnumbers those of the US Navy. “They will have another 100 ships sailing by 2030. They now have 1,000 nuclear warheads,” Rutte said, adding that such
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Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
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