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
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