President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said that China’s declaration of an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over an area of the East China Sea does not involve “air space” or “territorial sovereignty,” but that Taiwan will express its “serious” concern to China and other parties.
It is the first time Ma has commented on Beijing’s ADIZ move, which was announced on Saturday and has generally been viewed as upping the ante in China’s confrontation with Japan over the disputed Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) — known to Japanese as the Senkaku Islands — which Taiwan also claims sovereignty over.
The ADIZ that China has drawn up has a small overlap with Taiwan’s own air identification zone, but will have no impact on the ability of Taiwan’s armed forces to conduct exercises, Ma said.
Taiwan will express its serious concerns based on his East China Sea peace initiative, he said.
The principles outlined in the initiative include the shelving of territorial disputes, self-restraint from all parties concerned and peaceful resolution of differences.
Ma made the comments at a meeting of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), according to sources who attended the meeting. The president doubles as KMT chairman.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dodged questions as to what the Civil Aeronautics Administration’s (CAA) decision to abide by China’s new airspace rules means for the nation’s sovereignty over the Diaoyutais.
The Chinese Ministry of National Defense said on Saturday that the ADIZ, which went into effect at 10am that day, requires that all aircraft flying through the zone notify China and to obey orders from Chinese officials.
Taiwanese airlines have begun to comply with the requirement that flight plans be submitted before planes fly through the zone, the CAA said in statement yesterday.
That stance stands in strong contrast to reaction from Japan and South Korea yesterday.
The Japanese government told its domestic carriers to stop providing information to China, while restating that the demarcation of the AIDZ in no way affects Japan.
South Korea, which said that part of China’s claimed ADIZ overlaps with its own zone off its southern island of Jeju, said it will not notify China when its planes pass through the area.
Asked whether the CAA’s decision to follow China’s regulations was tantamount to tacitly acknowledging China’s sovereignty over the disputed region, ministry spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) said the agency’s decision was “based on professionalism, aviation safety and public interests.”
The CAA decision was to accommodate the needs of aircraft companies and in line with practices adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization, Kao said.
The CAA said it understood that Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines have decided to follow customary practices and forward their civil aviation flight plans to the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s Air Traffic Management Bureau.
In related news, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) demanded that Ma speak to a visiting Chinese official over Beijing’s new ADIZ within three days.
“Ma should take the visit of Association of Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Deming (陳德銘) as an opportunity to strongly protest Beijing’s move. Chen should be listed as a persona non grata and expelled if he fails to make an appropriate response,” TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) told a press conference in Taipei.
If Ma did not meet this demand, the TSU would take action on its own, Huang said.
Huang’s statement came one day after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) demanded the Ma administration lodge a protest against Beijing’s move and maintain close contact with its allies. The DPP said Taiwan’s fighter jets and naval vessels in its own ADIZ must not be affected by China’s announcement.
While Ma has boasted about “the best cross-strait relations in decades” during his time in office, Beijing never consulted Taiwan about the ADIZ, Huang said.
Ma’s diplomatic strategy of working with China to counter the Japan-US alliance was a mistake, he said.
China’s unilateral demarcation was part of a “gradual annexation” that keeps pushing the envelope and should alert the public not to ignore its malicious intentions, he said.
Beijing’s redrawing of the ADIZ has jeopardized peaceful development in Asia, regional stability in Northeast Asia as well Taiwan’s security and sovereignty, Huang said, adding that as the president, Ma could not afford to sit around and do nothing about China’s political maneuvering.
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan
This story has been updated since it was first published.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
RSS