Three of four Taiwanese fishing boats on their way to Taiwan-held Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) in the South China Sea were scheduled to reach the island’s shores last night, a spokesman for the group of fishing boats said earlier in the day.
The fourth boat, which was carrying three reporters from Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television, was to drop anchor in waters off the island, said Lo Chiang-fei (羅強飛), who acts as a spokesman for the fishermen.
The fishing boats left Taiwan on Wednesday last week to assert that Itu Aba is an island under international law and reaffirm their fishing rights in the South China Sea in response to a July 12 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Photo: CNA
In a case brought by the Philippines against China, the court said all high-tide features in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), including Itu Aba Island, are legally “rocks” rather than islands and therefore not entitled to 200 nautical mile (370km) exclusive economic zones.
Although Taiwan was not a party to the case and has said it would not be bound by the ruling, other nations in the region could use it to limit where Taiwanese fishermen can operate.
As of 11:14am yesterday, the fishing boat fleet was 53 nautical miles from Taiping, which lies 864 nautical miles from Kaohsiung, Lo said.
By press time last night, there was no update on the boats’ position.
They did not anticipate any trouble landing on Itu Aba, even though it is categorized as a military-controlled zone into which fishermen are prohibited from entering without authorization from the Ministry of National Defense, the spokesman said.
Lo said the fishermen would ask Coast Guard Administration personnel stationed on the island to provide assistance on the grounds that they are in need of emergency shelter and have to replenish their supplies there.
Regarding the three TV reporters who joined the group, Lo said that while they had crew permits to board the ships, the boat carrying them would stop short of the island to prevent their presence from becoming a distraction.
Amid questions that the three reporters might have received financial support from China to participate, Lo said it was an activity conducted purely by civilians without the support of political parties or groups.
Lo said that reporters from several media outlets expressed interest in covering the trip, but only those with crew boarding permits were allowed to participate.
He said the group did not favor the Hong Kong-based TV station over other media outlets and reiterated that it did not have any political affiliation.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
RSS