A report that Taiwan is considering leasing Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) to the US constitutes “fake news” and could mislead the public the Taipei-based Institute for National Defense and Security Research said on Friday.
Spreading groundless information could affect the public’s understanding of the matter, the institute said in a statement, urging the media to verify facts before reporting them.
The institute, which is affiliated with the Ministry of National Defense, was launched in May to study China’s military. Former minister of national defense Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) is serving as its first chairman.
While serving as defense minister, Feng repeatedly denied such rumors at legislative hearings when questioned by lawmakers, the institute said in a statement.
Rumors that Taiwan is mulling leasing the island in the disputed South China Sea have surfaced several times over the past few years, including in July 2016, July last year and last month, it said.
The most recent report about Taiwan considering to lease the island to the US was published by Chinese news Web site xilu.com.
“Such an idea is very dangerous, because the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are all firmly opposed to any such moves that are harmful to the Chinese people,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wu Qian (吳謙) said at a news conference in Beijing on Thursday
In response to Wu’s comment, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) reiterated that Taiwan has no plans to lease the island.
“The government has no plans to lease Taiping Island to any other country, including the US,” Lee said. “Neither the US nor any other country has made such a request.”
It was the second time in a month that Lee commented on the matter, which has attracted attention from local and foreign media.
The report was fabricated and designed to create instability in the region or conflict between the two sides of the Strait, he said, urging the perpetrators to stop attacking Taiwan over a groundless rumor.
Itu Aba, located about 1,600km from Kaohsiung, is part of the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島). It has an area of only 0.51 square kilometers and houses 200 Taiwanese soldiers, but no civilian residents.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition