The legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee convener, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), yesterday said that the committee has arranged to visit and inspect Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) in May.
The trip was organized because efforts to deepen the island’s harbor, as well as maintenance projects, had been completed, Ma said.
The living quality of garrisoned officers and troops, as well as the garrison’s combat readiness, would be inspected, she said.
Photo courtesy of then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Johnny Chiang’s office
Lawmakers last made such a visit on July 19 and 20, 2016.
Former presidents Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) both visited the island before stepping down from office, Ma Wen-chun said, urging President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who is to step down on May 20, to travel there to reinforce Taiwan’s sovereignty claims.
Deputy Legislative Speaker Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) on Feb. 6 and Monday wrote on Facebook urging Tsai to back up her statements on upholding national sovereignty by visiting Itu Aba.
Ma Wen-chun yesterday said that despite the Tsai administration’s claims that it is “standing up to China and protecting Taiwan,” it failed to protest the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague’s downgrading of Itu Aba from an island to a “rock” in 2016.
The Democratic Progressive Party yesterday said that Itu Aba is a part of Taiwan’s sovereign territory, and that its resolve to uphold its sovereignty should not be questioned.
However, urging the head of state to visit an area that is fraught with tension was either done through ignorance or signified ulterior motives, it said.
Asked whether a visit by the president to the island at this time would be appropriate, Taiwan People’s Party caucus convener Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said there is a precedence for such visits.
“To go or not to go, however, is a test of President Tsai’s wisdom,” he said.
Additional reporting by Chen Yun and Huang Ching-hsuan
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
RSS