President Chen Shui-bian (
The Pratas are Taiwan's second southernmost territory, next to Itu Abu (太平島), otherwise known as Taiping island, in the Spratly Islands (南沙).
Accompanied by CGA director Wang Chun (
It was the first time that Chen had visited the Pratas since taking office. Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (
The Pratas used to be guarded by regular troops, but at the end of last year the newly established CGA took over defense of the archipelago.
Chen expressed concern during the half-day trip over matters ranging from the preservation of natural resources in the region to the defense of the small outpost and the would-be full-scale opening of the island for tourism, the CGA said.
Chen said that Taiwan's South China Sea policy is to solve disputes in the region through peaceful means and to share and jointly cultivate natural resources with neighboring countries.
"The replacement of regular troops with the coast guard as the defenders of the island has effectively reduced tensions in the region. It also contributes a lot to the interests of the country," Chen said.
As to the preservation of natural resources in Taiwan's territorial seas off the Pratas, Chen wanted the coast guard stationed on the island to drive away fishing boats from China or boats from other countries that illegally enter Taiwan's territorial waters.
In a briefing to Chen, the local coast guard commander highlighted the frequent illegal entry into waters off the Pratas by Chinese fishing boats as well as the damage Chinese fishermen have done to the natural resources around the island.
According to research published by the Kaohsiung-based National Chungshan University, illegal fishing practices by Chinese fishermen have caused the number of species of coral in the region to drop from 137 to 64 in recent years.
Chen also said that without sufficient preparation by local residents, tourism on the island would not live up to expectations.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
RSS