The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday expressed concern about Beijing’s aggressive and destabilizing actions near the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), while reiterating the nation’s sovereignty over the islands.
On Monday and Tuesday, four Chinese coast guard ships sailed near the Diaoyutai Islands, one of which was equipped with a cannon.
Two of the ships sailed away on Tuesday morning, including an armed vessel, while the others attempted to approach a Japanese fishing boat, the Japan Coast Guard said.
Photo: Reuters
Situated in the East China Sea, the uninhabited islands — known as the Senkakus in Japan — are claimed by Taipei, Beijing and Tokyo.
It was the first armed incursion since China’s enactment on Feb. 1 of a new Coast Guard Law, which authorizes its coast guard to inspect and use weapons on foreign vessels in waters claimed by Beijing.
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday lodged a formal complaint with Beijing.
Asked about China’s actions, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a regular news conference in Taipei that the government is paying close attention to developments in the East China Sea.
The presence of an armed Chinese vessel near the Diaoyutais has a destabilizing effect, she said, adding that Chinese harassment is not just limited to the sea, she said.
So far this year, China has sent 97 military planes into the nation’s southwest air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on 40 separate occasions, she said, citing data from the Ministry of National Defense.
Last year, 1,807 planes and ships encroached on the nation’s territory on 102 occasions, 91 of which involved entering the ADIZ, while the median line of the Taiwan Strait was crossed six times, she added.
China quickly turns to military aggression not only in the East China Sea and Taiwan Strait, but also in the South China Sea and its border with India, creating tension with its neighbors and regional instability, she said.
Reaffirming the nation’s claim over the Diaoyutais, Ou said the government would “resolutely defend the nation’s sovereignty.”
“The Diaoyutai Islands are unquestionably Taiwanese territory,” she said. “No one-sided claims or actions by any party can change this fact.”
Taipei would continue to seek a solution through peaceful and rational means, while also protecting the rights of fishers, Ou said, calling on other parties to exercise restraint for the sake of regional peace and stability.
Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) on Tuesday also raised the alarm over Chinese maritime coercion, telling Kyodo News that Beijing is “using multiple tools to expand their presence in the region.”
She also expressed Taipei’s interest in an emerging alliance dubbed “the Quad” between the US, Japan, Australia and India to protect a free and open Indo-Pacific, saying that the nation would continue to observe how the arrangement evolves.
Also yesterday, Department of North American Affairs Deputy Director-General Douglas Hsu (徐佑典) said that Taiwan-US relations have continued to develop over the first month of the new US administration.
“Our work with the US has always been bipartisan,” he said. “We seek support for Taiwan from both parties.”
The US Department of State has even declared its “rock-solid” commitment to Taiwan and reiterated its adherence to the Taiwan Relations Act and “six assurances,” while also vowing to support Taiwan’s international participation, he added.
Last year’s Global Cooperation and Training Framework between Taiwan, the US and Japan enabled dialogue on a number of important issues, which working groups are continuing to develop, Hsu said.
Taiwan-US relations have gotten off to a good start under US President Joe Biden, and would on this basis continue to grow, he added.
OVERHAUL NEEDED: The government should improve its agricultural processing capabilities and expand to new markets to limit its reliance on China, an expert said China’s ban on Taiwanese pineapples was “unsurprising,” and Taiwan should have years ago altered its produce export strategies and target customers, experts said. China on Friday abruptly suspended imports of pineapples from Taiwan, saying that it had on multiple occasions discovered “harmful biological entities” on the fruit. Calling it an “unfriendly” move, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said that 99.79 percent of the pineapples sent to China since last year have met China’s import standards. Chiao Chun (焦鈞), the author of Fruits and Politics — A Recollection of Cross-strait Agricultural Interaction Over the Past Decade (水果政治學：兩岸農業交流十年回顧與展望), said that China’s announcement is clearly targeting
‘NOT COLD ENOUGH’: Schools are disregarding Premier Su Tseng-chang’s instruction that students may wear out-of-uniform clothing to stay warm, an association said An investigative report revealed that 72.5 percent of the nation’s senior-high schools and 95.6 percent of junior-high schools punish students for wearing unapproved winter clothes in contravention of educational guidelines, lawmakers and student rights advocates said yesterday. Speaking at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan, the Taiwan Youth Association for Democracy said there is an endemic disregard for the Ministry of Education’s regulations and that private schools are more likely to contravene ministry rules. The report is a compilation of 2,856 student reports about dress code reinforcement at 425 high schools and vocational high schools, the association said. Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌)
DISSATISFACTION? If the referendums collect more than 700,000 signatures each, they would have gotten the most signatures in the shortest time, the party said The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) two referendum petitions — one on banning the importation of pork with traces of ractopamine and the other on holding referendums on the same day as national elections — had as of Thursday gathered 691,398 and 674,497 signatures respectively, the party said yesterday. If the petitions collect more than 700,000 signatures apiece, they would have garnered the most signatures in the shortest time since the Referendum Act (公民投票法) was amended in 2017, party officials said. The KMT proposed the “anti-ractopamine pork” or “food safety” referendum just days after President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) announcement on Aug. 28 last
DECADES OF INFLUENCE: Over the past 20 years, China has made inroads with Aborigines, funding political campaigns and trips, a legislator said Lawmakers have called on the National Security Bureau to investigate claims of pervasive Chinese influence among Aboriginal communities. Legislators pointed to a surge in communist propaganda and Chinese-funded projects over the past few years, which they say are aimed at infiltrating and buying political influence among Aboriginal communities. “China has for decades carried out wide-ranging ‘united front’ tactics and propaganda campaigns targeting Aborigines,” said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ying (陳瑩), a member of the Puyuma community in Taitung County. “Now, they are influencing elections for local councilors and village chiefs, offering money for candidates to mount their campaigns, and to
RSS