Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday reiterated that drilling for oil off Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) could benefit the city’s finances, even though the CPC Corp on Tuesday said that there is not petroleum or gas around the island.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate, in Monday’s Kaohsiung City Council meeting, denied having proposed drilling for oil off Itu Aba during his campaign last year for mayor, after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Kaohsiung City Councilor Kao Min-lin (高閔琳) asked him if he was planning to budget for oil exploration.
“Who said anything about drilling for oil?” Han said, adding: “Have you ever seen it in writing?”
Photo: Huang Chia-lin, Taipei Times
While the idea was not listed as one of his planned policies in the official election paper, Han had proposed drilling for oil off the island to improve Kaohsiung’s finances during a mayoral candidate debate on Nov. 19 last year.
The idea was praised by former president Ma Ying-Jeou (馬英九) as a valuable and “unprecedented” platform.
During a visit yesterday to the DPP caucus at the city council, Han was asked by Kaohsiung City Councilor Lin Chih-hung (林智鴻) to clarify what he said on Monday.
Whether to explore for oil is up to the central government, Han said, adding that CPC conducted a test in 2013 to look for petroleum near the island.
“I was concerned on a daily basis about solving Kaohsiung’s financial difficulties and one day it occurred to me that Itu Aba Island falls under Kaohsiung’s jurisdiction,” he said.
The idea would be possible if the central government and neighboring countries agreed on an exploration bid, and if they could secure international funding, he said.
“If they are going to drill for oil, I really hope Kaohsiung would not be left out of the process,” he said. “It is common sense, as the Kaohsiung City Government has neither the ability nor the equipment to drill for oil.”
CPC on Tuesday said it was confirmed 38 years ago that the island has no oil or gas reserves, adding that it did not conduct a test in 2013 and had no plans to do so.
Company employees visited the island in 2013 to assert the nation’s sovereignty over it amid rising tension in the region and to conduct geographic tests which did not include drilling for oil, it added in its statement.
In related news, if too many city councilors have questions for the mayor at a two-day interpellation session that begins today, they will have to draw lots, as a new rule requires council meetings to end at 6pm.
Under the rule passed by the KMT-controlled council on Friday last week, only 29 councilors — out of the 66 — would be allotted 15 minutes each to question Han and 20 minutes each to question other city officials.
The Kaohsiung City Council has always determined by lot the order in which councilors would conduct interpellation, the council said yesterday.
However, in the past almost every councilor has had a chance to raise questions, but the new time restriction means that some councilors could lose their chance to interpellate the mayor, the council said.
Additional reporting by Wang Jung-hsiang
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
Military photovoltaic projects have been found to have used Chinese-made devices blacklisted by the government, including Huawei Technologies Co routers, the Ministry of National Defense’s Armaments Bureau said on Thursday. An ongoing investigation has identified the illegal use of 128 current transformers, two routers and a data reader at the Hungchailin Army Base, Pinghai Navy Base and Tri-Service General Hospital’s Songshan branch, it said. The devices were manufactured in the Chinese factories of German solar energy equipment supplier SMA Solar Technology, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Delta Electronics Co, Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei and Taiwanese industrial PC maker Advantech Co, the bureau said. The bureau’s
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
Beijing’s recent provocative actions against the Philippines in the South China Sea were partly meant as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Taiwan, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger said at a Heritage Foundation forum in Washington on Tuesday. Beijing’s blocking of a Philippine resupply mission on June 17 with unprecedented violence had multiple implications. “What they’re doing is trying to demonstrate that they can blockade, create a sense of futility and discredit the idea that the United States is going to help not only the Philippines, but by extension Taiwan,” Pottinger said. Pottinger was referring to a clash