The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) proposal to transfer authority over restricted and prohibited waters near islands close to China from the Ministry of National Defense to the Ocean Affairs Council would risk redefining conflict in the Taiwan Strait as “civil war,” the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.
KMT Legislator Chen Yeong-kang (陳永康) told a news conference held by the KMT legislative caucus that the proposal is intended to reduce cross-strait conflict and does not involve any concession of sovereignty.
The amendment to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) — which would affect outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties — would allow enforcement by the Coast Guard Administration, which is supervised by the council, rather than the military, Chen said.
Photo: CNA
The ministry and council have formally expressed their opposition to the amendment.
Military vessels do not normally operate in restricted waters during peacetime, and only open fire during wartime when unidentified objects enter an area without prior notification, Chen said.
Chen cited an incident on Feb. 14 last year, in which an unregistered Chinese vessel capsized near Kinmen County, saying that the capsizing was caused by law enforcement actions rather than military activity.
Even if law enforcement vessels from China and Taiwan collide or exchange water cannon fire, it does not meet the conditions for an armed conflict — unless a military vessel becomes involved, he said.
The proposal aims to reduce conflict by allowing coast guard personnel from both sides to communicate directly, Chen said.
DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and DPP lawmaker Chen Pei-yu (陳培瑜) told a separate news conference that the proposal would "internalize Taiwan's territorial waters," redefine conflict between Taiwan and China in the Taiwan Strait as "civil war" and create "a vacuum in international support."
They also criticized KMT-backed amendments to the Offshore Islands Development Act (離島建設條例), saying they would help China circumvent country-of-origin labeling requirements and "open a national security back door."
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan
RSS