Taiwan’s navy should move toward using distinctly Taiwanese names to avoid confusion, after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) gave one of its frigates the same name as a Republic of China (ROC) Navy vessel.
The PLAN has called a frigate the Xining, the same name in Chinese as the ROC Navy’s Si Ning — the only difference being that Taiwan’s navy uses traditional Chinese characters, while the Chinese vessel uses the Hanyu pinyin spelling and simplified Chinese characters.
This will not sit well with Taiwanese naval officers, particularly if the two vessels are ever to encounter each other on the high seas.
Both China and Taiwan’s navies have a tradition of naming military vessels after places in China and historical Chinese military figures.
Members of the ROC military held on tightly to their memories of China and named vessels after Chinese places and historical figures, with the People’s Liberation Army using the same convention.
For example, China’s sole aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was named after the Chinese province of the same name, while the PLAN’s destroyers are named after provincial capitals, other large cities of significance or historical figures.
For example, the PLAN destroyer the Zhenghe was named after a famous Ming Dynasty naval explorer.
Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) once spoke out against naming ROC Navy vessels after Chinese places and historical figures, saying that it does not help the nation establish a uniquely Taiwanese identity, and furthermore causes complications in encounters with the PLAN.
Chen brought the issue to the Legislative Yuan and it was resolved that ROC Navy vessels would be named after cities and harbors within the ROC’s current territory.
Four subsequently commissioned Kidd-class destroyers were named after Taiwanese cities.
A vessel’s name is very important, because the fate of the officers is tied to that of the vessel.
The vessel is also a community where everyone aboard lives together, and it lives and thrives together with the nation.
That is why ROC Navy vessels must reflect an awareness of Taiwan’s uniqueness.
Only in that way can the nation have a navy that is uniquely Taiwanese and distinct from that of China’s.
Taiwan’s navy should follow in the footsteps of its air force, which decorates its aircraft with images from the cultures of Taiwan’s Aborigines.
The navy should look to this example in breaking from its vessel-naming conventions.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS