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.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS