Yilan County Councilor Tsai Wen-yi (蔡文益) on Saturday said he would form a flotilla to “protect the Republic of China’s [ROC] sovereignty” over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) if Japan’s Ishigaki City Council renames the islands.
The Diaoyutais — known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan — are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea claimed by Taiwan, Japan and China.
The city council on Monday next week is to deliberate changing the administrative designation of the islands from Tonoshiro to “Tonoshiro Senkaku.”
PHOTO: Reuters/Kyodo
In response, the Yilan County Council on Thursday last week passed a provisional motion recommending changing the name to “Toucheng Township Diaoyutai” (頭城釣魚台), as the county’s Toucheng Township (頭城) has administrative authority over the islands.
Tsai said that if Ishigaki passes its proposal, he would form a flotilla of fishing vessels in Toucheng and Suao (蘇澳) townships on July 7 to “defend” the islands.
If Ishigaki shelves the proposal or if it does not pass, Tsai said he would cancel those plans, and would follow Legislative Speaker You Si-kun’s (游錫堃) position on the islands.
You said that Taiwan and Japan should put aside their differences and jointly develop the islands.
“Protecting the ROC’s sovereignty is the responsibility of everyone regardless of party affiliation or ethnicity,” Tsai said.
Tsai also said they could start a fundraising campaign for the flotilla, which would “preserve each donator’s name throughout history for NT$10,000.”
Issues of whether to land on the islands or surround them, and how many people and ships would be needed for the operation would be decided later, Tsai said.
He said he chose July 7 to commemorate the 1937 Marco Polo Bridge Incident (七 七事變) that led to the eight-year Second Sino-Japanese War.
The Yilan County Government yesterday said that although it understood the central government’s position of working with Japan and avoiding conflict, it would continue to prioritize the interests of the nation’s fishers.
It said it was communicating with the Fisheries Agency and local fishers regarding their concerns over their rights near the islands.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
RSS