President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Wednesday said that Taiwan’s efforts to build its own military vessels are intended to ensure sustainable maritime development and an ability to participate in maritime rescue missions, rather than as a show of force.
“As a maritime nation, we particularly need to invest resources in patrolling and defending coastal borders,” Tsai said at Kaohsiung Harbor at the commissioning of the Coast Guard Administration’s new 1,000-tonne patrol vessels, the Taitung CG-133 (台東艦) and the Pingtung CG-135 (屏東艦).
“Recently, disputes have frequently arisen in waters surrounding our nation, and the coast guard has taken up the job of protecting Taiwanese fishermen, as well as defending the nation’s maritime sovereignty,” she said.
Photo: CNA
The newly commissioned vessels were built to improve the coast guard’s capabilities, and the government will continue supporting the program to build coast guard vessels at home, the president said.
Tsai said that future upgrades are to include the command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems on all coast guard vessels.
The coast guard needs professional staff trained by the armed forces and police so that it can defend the nation during a war and work with police during peacetime, she added.
The coast guard said the two new vessels, which are both 87.6m long and have a 12.8m beam, are equipped with two engines and have a top speed of 24 knots.
They have a 40mm gun, a 20mm autocannon, two T75 light machine guns, a water cannon that has a maximum range of 120m, and a helicopter deck, the coast guard said.
The Taitung and the Pingtung, which have ranges of 6,000 nautical miles (11,112km), increase the number of vessels in the coast guard fleet to 156, including 24 that are 500 tonnes or more, the agency said.
The coast guard already has two vessels of the same type in service — the Miaoli CG-131 (苗栗艦) and the Taoyuan CG-132 (桃園艦) — which were launched in 2014 and last year, respectively. However, both ships are not equipped with a 40-mm gun.
Apart from patrolling the coast, cracking down on smugglers, conducting rescue missions and protecting maritime ecosystems, the coast guard is also responsible for the security of Taiwan-controlled islands in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) and Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea.
Following the ceremony, the two vessels were opened to visitors, who were able to board the ships and see an exhibition about coast guard missions.
The vessels will be grouped with coast guard units in eastern and southern Taiwan, respectively.
The Taitung, which arrived at its base in the Port of Hualien in May, has already been sent to patrol the waters around Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) in the South China Sea.
The vessel was dispatched to assert Taiwan’s right to an exclusive economic zone around the island in mid-July, after an international tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled on July 12 that none of the Spratly Islands, including Itu Aba, could be considered “islands” and were therefore not entitled to a 200-nautical-mile economic zone.
The Grand Hotel Taipei on Saturday confirmed that its information system had been illegally accessed and expressed its deepest apologies for the concern it has caused its customers, adding that the issue is being investigated by the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau. The hotel said that on Tuesday last week, it had discovered an external illegal intrusion into its information system. An initial digital forensic investigation confirmed that parts of the system had been accessed, it said, adding that the possibility that some customer data were stolen and leaked could not be ruled out. The actual scope and content of the affected data
‘LIKE-MINDED PARTNER’: Tako van Popta said it would be inappropriate to delay signing the deal with Taiwan because of China, adding he would promote the issue Canadian senators have stressed Taiwan’s importance for international trade and expressed enthusiasm for ensuring the Taiwan-Canada trade cooperation framework agreement is implemented this year. Representative to Canada Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) in an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA) said he was increasingly uneasy about Ottawa’s delays in signing the agreement, especially as Ottawa has warmed toward Beijing. There are “no negotiations left. Not only [is it] initialed, we have three versions of the text ready: English, French and Mandarin,” Tseng said. “That tells you how close we are to the final signature.” Tseng said that he hoped Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday bestowed one of Taiwan’s highest honors on Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Ambassador Andrea Clare Bowman in recognition of her contributions to bilateral ties. “By conferring the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon on Ambassador Bowman today, I want to sincerely thank her, on behalf of the Taiwanese people, for her outstanding contribution to deepening diplomatic ties between Taiwan and SVG,” Lai said at a ceremony held at the Presidential Office in Taipei. He noted that Bowman became SVG’s first ambassador to Taiwan in 2019 and
POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT: Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the meeting next month, Japanese sources said The holding of a Japan-US leaders’ meeting ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit to China is positive news for Taiwan, former Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association representative Hiroyasu Izumi said yesterday. After the Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide victory in Japan’s House of Representatives election, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is scheduled to visit the US next month, where she is to meet with Trump ahead of the US president’s planned visit to China from March 31 to April 2 for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Japan and the US are expected to hold in-depth discussions on Taiwan-related issues during the
RSS