Two Perry-class frigates to be acquired from the US should not have their names changed, despite calls to name them after naval heroes instead of Qing Dynasty officials, Minister of National Defense Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) said yesterday.
The two decommissioned US Perry-class frigates, the Mingchuan and Fengjia, are to be transferred to the Republic of China Navy next month.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration named the two vessels after poet Chiu Feng-jia (丘逢甲), who led the resistance against Japan following the Qing Dynasty’s cession of Taiwan to Japan, and Qing Dynasty governor of Taiwan Liu Ming-chuan (劉銘傳).
At a legislative session, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) criticized the names and said the frigates should be named after naval heroes to inspire officers and sailors.
“The US names destroyers and frigates after naval heroes and Taiwan should do the same to commemorate valor,” Tsai said. “However, neither Liu nor Chiu had a naval background.”
The two frigates should be named after admirals Chen Ching-kun (陳慶?) and Liang Tien-chia (梁天价), who were awarded the Order of Blue Sky and White Sun with Grand Cordon, the nation’s second-highest military award, Tsai said.
In April 1949, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was about to lose the Chinese Civil War, Chen, defying his commander’s decision to surrender, led a group of vessels to break through a blockade by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on the Yangtze River near Nanjing and traveled to Shanghai.
In May 1954, Liang led a combat vessel to help intelligence officers and US military advisers to withdraw from an island off the coast of China’s Zhejiang Province as the PLA was about to invade the island.
Liang’s ship was confronted by 10 PLA Navy vessels, but he completed the evacuation.
“None of the navy’s vessels are named after the nation’s naval heroes,” Tsai said, adding that Chen and Liang are the only people to receive the medal since the KMT retreated to Taiwan.
“As we are trying to boost the morale of the armed forces, naming the ships after naval heroes is meaningful,” he said.
Feng said that the naming of the two frigates should not be changed, because the decision of the navy and former ministers should be respected.
“The matter was decided and even a minister could not change it,” Feng said.
The nation is to build a number of new vessels under the government’s policy to develop an indigenous defense industry, and the ministry would adopt Tsai’s suggestions on the naming of those ships, Feng said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as