Accompanied by Phoenix Television, four coast guard patrol boats escorted a group of activists to “assert sovereignty” over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) on Thursday.
Following hard on the heels of a report on al-Jazeera asking if President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his government were ganging up with Beijing against Japan, three Chinese ocean surveillance ships and a Taiwanese coast guard patrol boat were sent to the waters near the Diaoyutais as if to confirm the concerns of outside observers.
Representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) smoothed things over, saying that since Taiwan is a free and democratic country, the government cannot stop Taiwanese fishermen from going out to sea as long as they handle any applications in accordance with the law.
King also said that the Taiwanese government had asked them “to refrain from intensifying the conflict” and avoid situations that could have unforeseen consequences.
Since the government had asked the activists to exercise restraint, it is clear that the administration knew about, and approved, the action beforehand. The government should therefore also take full responsibility for the consequences.
First, were the activists and Phoenix reporters going fishing? Second, the weather was rough that day and the Diaoyutais are located far outside the 24 nautical mile (44.45km) limit for tourist fishing. In addition, it is a disputed area.
The coast guard both knew about and approved this risky plan and, at its own cost, sent patrol boats to protect the activists.
Did the Coast Guard Administration really need to send four ships to protect one fishing boat, and how will it deal with the fact that the activists violated the 24 nautical mile limit for recreational fishing stipulated in the Regulations for Recreational Fishery (娛樂漁業管理辦法)?
Based on the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act (災害防救法), the government has the right to fine citizens entering precautionary zones and demand that they foot the bill for any rescue costs, which raises the question of whether the activists should pay the costs incurred by the four coast guard vessels.
All this implies that the incident was a result of government decisions and manipulations. When the government should have put on the brakes, it instead pushed as much as it could.
The day before the incident, China, in a rare move, voted for sanctioning North Korea’s decision to launch a rocket in a UN Security Council ballot on the issue.
Outside observers interpreted this goodwill gesture toward the US because it could help China avoid having to fight a war on two fronts, over the Diaoyutais on the one hand and over North and South Korea on the other.
Last week, a representative of Japan’s coalition Cabinet delivered a letter from Japanse Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping (習近平) in an attempt to lower tensions over the Diaoyutais.
As outside observers try to find ways to lower tensions over the East China Sea, Ma continues to use government resources to stir up the situation, in effect turning Taiwan into China’s right-hand man.
One can only wonder if this is unintentional or deliberate.
HoonTing is a writer.
Translated by Perry Svensson
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
The military is conducting its annual Han Kuang exercises in phases. The minister of national defense recently said that this year’s scenarios would simulate defending the nation against possible actions the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might take in an invasion of Taiwan, making the threat of a speculated Chinese invasion in 2027 a heated agenda item again. That year, also referred to as the “Davidson window,” is named after then-US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Philip Davidson, who in 2021 warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the PLA to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Xi in 2017
RSS